- Cuba arrested Gross, now 65, on Dec. 3, 2009, and later convicted the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) subcontractor to 15 years in prison for importing banned technology and trying to establish clandestine internet service for Cuban Jews.
The United States has rejected offers to discuss swapping Gross for three Cuban intelligence agents serving prisons terms in the United States, saying it would be wrong to equate Gross with Cuban spies...Obama has the authority to conduct a prisoner swap and rewrite U.S. policy on Cuba. Although he said "we have to continue to update our policies" on Cuba over a year ago, he has yet to signal change.
Gross' mental and physical health has declined, he can barely walk or see out of his right eye, and he has grown increasingly suicidal while losing some 100 pounds (46 kg), according to his lawyer, Scott Gilbert.
In April he went on a 9-day hunger strike. After his 65th birthday last May, Gross vowed not to turn 66 in prison, telling visitors he would rather die. He said goodbye to his wife and daughter in July and has refused to see them or U.S. diplomats in Havana, Gilbert said.