A Gross Inequality

All this whining about Alan Gross, the American "businessman" convicted in Cuba for "crimes against the State" is a classic example of the U.S. double standard with regard to the incarceration of foreigners by the Americans vis a vis the one of American citizens by other countries. Putting aside the issue of guilt or innocence in these cases, the fact is that, whenever an American is convicted in another country, doubts are invariably cast on the fairness of the proceedings and there are immediate calls for that person's liberation, given the supposed hardship endured in a foreign jail.

And yet, when it's the other way around, the U.S. has no compunction in letting a foreigner rot in jail under terrible conditions. Take the detainees in Guantánamo, Cuba, some of which have been there for years, without having been charged even. Or the "Cuban Five" imprisoned in the U.S. for trying to thwart Cuban exile plans against Cuba from American territory. Or the Puerto Rican political prisoners who endured or continue to endure harsh incarceration for two or three decades. For all of them there is no mercy.

Gross, on the other hand, has been in jail for just three years, and from day one the Americans have been complaining about his "inhumane" treatment. Which goes to show you that Americans only have humanitarian concerns when it pertains to one of their own. Other people don't count.