Statement from U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC

March 30, 2011


BY: THE HILL


Statement from the US-Cuba Democracy PAC on President Carter's Call for the Release of the "Cuban Five":

In a press conference today from Havana, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter missed an opportunity to call for the freedom of the Cuban people from the brutal Castro dictatorship. Instead, he chose to criticize U.S. policy and call for the release of five Cuban agents ("the Cuban Five") convicted by U.S. federal juries of espionage and, in one case, conspiracy to commit murder.

In doing so, President Carter has tragically implied an equivalency between the "Cuban Five" and the case of American development worker Alan Gross, who was unjustly imprisoned by the Castro regime for helping Cuba's Jewish community connect to the Internet -- a fundamental human right enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

President Carter's unfortunate remarks are a huge disservice to efforts for Mr. Gross's release and to the cause of human rights internationally.