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Alan Gross

Alan Gross

U.S. Humanitarian Aid Worker Wrongfully Imprisoned in Cuba for 5 Years

Alan Gross is an amazing storyteller who shares his time in jail with the audience.  They’ll feel themselves in the cell with him, and will relate to the prisoners, guards, etc. in the same way that Gross does. He will talk about his time in Cuba as well as other hot spots around the world where he was an international relief specialist.  He will share his motivations, his experiences, and his activities. He is an expert on Cuba, and because of him, there are new steps to repair the relations between the US and Cuba.

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Bio

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Before his sudden, shocking, five-year-long imprisonment by Castro’s Cuba, Alan Gross spent more than 25 years traveling the globe to administer civilian foreign aid and promote democracy on behalf of private industry, non-government organizations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Gross fought poverty and oppression in more than 50 countries in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa.

In 2009, Gross was abruptly arrested by Cuban officials, who falsely accused him of working for American intelligence services. He was in fact working on a humanitarian project to improve wireless access for small communities across Cuba, with a special emphasis on helping Cuba’s small Jewish community. In March 2011, Gross was wrongfully convicted for “acts against the territorial integrity of the state,” and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

During his captivity in Cuba, Gross spent 23 hours a day confined to a small jail cell, almost completely isolated from the outside world. His physical health and emotional well-being deteriorated over five long years, as his hopes that he would ever return home alive were challenged.

Finally, after being wrongfully imprisoned for 1,841 days, Alan was released on humanitarian grounds on December 17, 2014 and reunited with his wife and children.

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An Afternoon with Alan Gross

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Alan Gross statement: 'I have learned...that freedom is not free'
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