The chairwoman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., has called on the Obama administration to end its conversations with the Castro regime, suspend adding charter flights to Cuba from more U.S. airports and implement the full range of sanctions at its disposal.
Ros-Lehtinen won't say what sorts of conversations she's had with the Gross family or government officials.
"I don't wish to be an impediment in any discussions that are taking place between governments about his release," she said. "We hope that every department is doing all that they can to secure his release, because it's totally unjustified."
The Cubans need a graceful way to let her husband go, Judy Gross said, and the politics of U.S.-Cuba relations haven't made that easy.
"There's some very powerful vocal people in the Congress who are not favorable to sitting down and negotiating anything with the Cubans," she said. "If you don't negotiate, you don't get anything."
ON THE WEB
Alan Gross' mother, Evelyn Gross, talks about her son
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY
Bill Richardson in Cuba to seek release of Alan Gross
Cable: U.S. reports on consular visit to prisoner Philip Alan Gross
Cable: U.S.-Cuba chill exaggerated
Cable: Cuba protests U.S. observation of Human Rights Day in Havana
RSS
My Yahoo