Published on Newsweek on 12/17/14 AT 4:25 PM
Everyone can rejoice at the release of Alan Gross from five years imprisonment. The reality, however, whether or not he realized it, is that Gross had gone to Cuba as a part of a questionable, far-fetched plan hatched in Washington that ultimately had the goal of toppling the Castro regime.
Anti-Castro politicians and talking heads, such as senators Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Robert Menendez, a Democrat, pretend that Gross had gone to Cuba in 2009 to donate communications gear to the country's small Jewish community. That claim has been broadly shown to be false.
[READ MORE ON NEWSWEEK]
Jailed USAID contractor Alan Gross, right, poses for a picture during a visit with Cuban Jewish Community leader Adela Dworin, center, and David Prinstein, vice president, at Havana's Carlos J Finlay Military Hospital September 28, 2012. REUTERS
