American Prisoner Pleads to Obama for Help
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Jake, thanks very much. Happening now, breaking news, new revelations. Investigators have just announced they found no signs of problems with the brakes in the deadly train derailment. CNN has learned what the engineer said about his state of mind only seconds before the accident. Could it have played a role? Candid Clinton -- the former president talking to CNN about the next race for the White House. Will it pit Hillary Clinton against Joe Biden? Red kettle robbery -- heartless thieves steal Christmas from needy families, swiping thousands of dollars from the Salvation Army. But how did they do it? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. All that coming up. But we begin with an American held captive in Cuba since 2009, now begging President Obama to personally intervene. Sixty-four-year-old Alan Gross says his country, quote, "abandoned him," after he was imprisoned for bringing communications equipment to Jewish groups in Cuba. Joining us now is our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, with the latest -- Jill, what are you learning?</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf, well, Alan Gross says that he is in a small cell with two other inmates. He gets about an hour a day outside in a very small courtyard. And he says other than a few phone calls and visits, he is completely isolated from the outside world.</s>DOUGHERTY (voice-over): At the gates of the White House, the wife of Alan Gross pleads for the president to help her husband.</s>JUDY GROSS, WIFE OF ALAN GROSS: Please, Mr. President, don't leave Alan to die in Cuba.</s>DOUGHERTY: Today marks the fourth anniversary of Alan Gross' imprisonment in Cuba. Arrested while working as a contractor for the U.S. government, bringing Internet connectivity to Cuba's Jewish community. He was accused of trying to subvert the Cuban revolution and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Gross's family just released a letter from the 64-year-old to President Barack Obama, begging the president to personally intervene. "With the utmost respect, Mr. President, I fear that my government, the very government I was serving when I began this nightmare, has abandoned me," the letter reads. Gross's wife says his life is in danger, that he's lost more than 100 pounds in prison. One year ago, Gross spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a phone interview.</s>BLITZER: What the Cuban government would want in exchange for releasing you?</s>ALAN GROSS, PRISONER: Yes. I think they want something that's completely unrealistic. I think they want -- since I'm not really a prisoner, I'm a hostage -- I think that they took me with the idea of trading me.</s>DOUGHERTY: Secretary of State Kerry says the Obama administration still is trying to secure Gross's release.</s>JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are currently engaged in some discussions regarding that which I'm not at liberty to go into in any kind of detail. But the bottom line is that we have raised these issues.</s>DOUGHERTY: Former president Bill Clinton tells CNN Gross's imprisonment is halting improvement in relations with Cuba.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't expect us to do much more now unless there's some resolution of some of these human rights issues.</s>DOUGHERTY: Now the State Department says that U.S. officials visit Alan Gross monthly. They say the last visit was November 27th. The next one that they're asking for is December 26th. And they insist that he remains a top priority and they are working it diplomatically -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Jill Dougherty with that background. Thanks, Jill, very much. Joining us now is Judy Gross, the wife of Alan Gross. Judy, thanks very much for coming in.</s>JUDY GROSS: Thanks for having me.</s>BLITZER: Four years. How emotional is this for you, four years, your husband being held in Cuba?</s>GROSS: It's emotional. It's very, uh, it causes me a lot of anger, I have to say right now. I'm angry at the U.S. Government. I'm angry at the Cuban government, totally frustrated for this lack of action that Alan is still in the same situation he was for four...</s>BLITZER: I understand...</s>GROSS: -- four years...</s>BLITZER: -- your anger at the Cubans, but why are you angry at the U.S. Government? You just heard John Kerry, the secretary of State, say they're doing whatever they can to get your husband out of there?</s>GROSS: This is something that I've heard for four years. It hasn't changed. I don't know what that means, doing something. We have not been told what they're doing. So at this point, we feel that we have to step it up a notch. And we are asking President Obama to get personally involved in the situation and do what needs to be done to get him out.</s>BLITZER: The Cubans have made it clear to me, I'm sure to you and to others, they want Cubans who are being held here in the United States, convicted of crimes, to be released, and there would be a sort of trade. Your husband goes back to the United States, they go back to Cuba. Is that what -- is that's what -- is that what's holding up this freedom for Alan Gross?</s>GROSS: Well, you know, I have never heard the Cubans actually say that. I don't know if they've actually come out and said we want the Cubans for in exchange for Alan Gross. I met with the Cuban foreign minister the last time I was in Cuba, with other officials. And what they have said is they have been asking over and over and over again for the administration to send an envoy, to sit down with them, to start talking about these issues and there's been no response...</s>BLITZER: Because...</s>GROSS: -- from the government.</s>BLITZER: -- the -- when you say an envoy, the U.S. Does have a diplomatic interest section in Havana, so there are U.S. Officials there who are working on behalf of your husband.</s>GROSS: They're not considered envoys, though. What we're talking about is somebody who could really go in and start negotiations with the Cubans.</s>BLITZER: Well, I remember it wasn't that long ago, Bill Richardson, the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. He went to Cuba hoping to bring Alan Gross out of Cuba with him. They wouldn't even let him see Alan Gross.</s>GROSS: That's right. That's right. And he -- they got very upset with some of the words he used when he spoke. And so that was an excuse for him not to visit Alan.</s>BLITZER: So let's be precise. What would you like President Obama to do?</s>GROSS: I think you'd have to ask him what it takes. I want Obama to take Alan seriously, to take the situation seriously. He's the leader of the nation. He's the one who can go to the State Department and go to the Justice Department, whatever department is involved, and say, let's make this work. He could do it tomorrow if he -- if he wanted to.</s>BLITZER: But they all have issued statements that they would like Alan Gross freed, they're doing what they can, but they're not about to release those four Cuban prisoners in the United States, if, in fact, that is the Cuban demand.</s>GROSS: We don't know if that's the Cuban demand and as far as I'm concerned -- and excuse me for sounding angry -- but all of those statements have nothing behind them.</s>BLITZER: Now, the Cubans have accused your husband of what? They say he came in and surreptitiously was distributing illegal communications equipment to the Jewish community in Havana?</s>GROSS: His charges were interfering with the sovereignty of the government. You can take that whatever way you mean it. Raoul has...</s>BLITZER: Raul Castro?</s>GROSS: -- Castro, sorry -- has said in public that he knows Alan was not a spy. So Alan is a hostage.</s>BLITZER: How often do you go there to see Alan?</s>GROSS: I saw him last in June.</s>BLITZER: In June of this year?</s>GROSS: Yes. And I hope to go again this winter.</s>BLITZER: And when -- and you meet with Cuban officials when you're there, as well?</s>GROSS: They're very cordial about meetings.</s>BLITZER: And what do they say to you? What do they say it will take to get Alan free?</s>GROSS: They don't. They just say we want to talk with your government and this has been the mantra over and over and over again, that they want to talk with our government.</s>BLITZER: Because there's not going to be an improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations as long as Alan Gross is being held captive.</s>GROSS: Well, that's -- that's what I hear. But how can you improve any situation without sitting down and talking? It just doesn't work that way.</s>BLITZER: So what's your final thought on this fourth anniversary of your husband's imprisonment?</s>GROSS: My final thought is that he stays healthy. He's not really that healthy. That he can hold onto hope. He's almost hopeless at this point. That he doesn't suffer. Those are primarily the most important things. And I hope that President Obama will make this his personal responsibility, to get on this case and get Alan free.</s>BLITZER: Well, we hope he is free. We hope he's back here with you very, very soon. Judy Gross, thanks very much for coming in.</s>GROSS: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: Good luck. Up next, the breaking news we've been following -- what investigators have learned about that deadly New York train derailment and what the engineer has revealed about his state of mind. A briefing has just concluded. Our own Nic Robertson is standing by with the latest. And will she or won't she -- CNN asks Bill Clinton whether his wife will run for president again in 2016.