White House to Castro: Release American now

The continued detainment of an imprisoned U.S. Agency for International Development worker by the Castro regime is an “impediment to more constructive relations between the United States and Cuba,” the White House warned Monday.

{mosads}Press secretary Josh Earnest reiterated the administration’s call for the release of American Alan Gross, who was jailed for attempting to help Cuba’s Jewish community establish Internet access, on the fifth anniversary of his detainment.

“The administration remains focused on securing Alan’s freedom from a Cuban prison, and returning him safely to his wife and children, where he belongs,” Earnest said.

Some critics have charged that the White House has undermined efforts to secure Gross’s release by loosening restrictions on travel to the communist nation, allowing Cuban-Americans to make unlimited trips and send unlimited amounts of money to family members.

In 2011, the White House said it would allow students seeking academic credit and churches making religious trips to visit the island, and the administration expanded the number of U.S. airports permitted to offer charter service to the island.

President Obama also came under fire for shaking hands with Cuban President Raúl Castro at the funeral for South African leader Nelson Mandela last December.

But former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in her memoir that she believes some in the Castro government are using Gross “as an opportunity to put the brakes on any possible rapprochement with the United States and the domestic reforms that would require.”

“If so, it is a double tragedy, consigning millions of Cubans to a kind of continued imprisonment as well,” Clinton said.

Scott Glibert, an attorney for Gross’s family, has urged the White House to dispatch top American officials to conduct negotiations with the Castro regime.

“Our message, really, is to the president of the United States,” Gilbert told MSNBC earlier this year. “And it is President Obama, please engage on this issue. We understand the world’s a complicated place. We understand the world will not become less complicated, but please engage on this issue. Sit down with the Cuban government. Try to reach a resolution.”

A year ago, the White House said Obama had personally lobbied foreign leaders and other “international figures” to help convince Cuba to free Gross.