HAVANA — Cuba accused former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson of “blackmail” and slander Wednesday, denying his claim that he was invited to the island to negotiate the release of a jailed U.S. government subcontractor.
The Foreign Ministry’s head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal, said Cuba refused Richardson’s request to even see Alan Gross after the politician described Gross as a “hostage” of Havana in an interview.
“His request to see the prisoner . . . became impossible due to his slanderous statements to the press,” Vidal said. “The release of . . . Alan Gross was never on the table,” she added.
Gross was sentenced to 15 years in jail after being caught illegally bringing communications equipment onto the island while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program.
Richardson is a former U.S. envoy to the United Nations with a long history of negotiating the release of prisoners around the world. The Associated Press
