For over five years, the Castro dictatorship has held American development worker, Alan Gross, as its hostage for helping the Cuban people connect to the Internet.
This shows the cruel extent to which the Castro dictatorship is willing to go in order to try to silence its own people.
With Gross' hostage-taking, the Castro dictatorship has sought to coerce the Obama administration into releasing Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States and to unilaterally ease sanctions.
Today, this innocent American, who should have never been imprisoned in the first place, is returning home to his wife and daughters.
But sadly, rather than being released unconditionally, the Obama administration has acquiesced to the Castro regime's coercion.
While we are relieved at the release of this American hostage today, there are 11 million Cubans who remain hostages of Castro's brutal regime. Moreover, repression in Cuba today is at a historic high.
In exchange for Gross' release, the Obama administration will announce the release of three Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States for crimes, including a conspiracy to kill Americans.
Today, our hearts go out to the families of those young Americans, the pilots of the Brothers to the Rescue planes disintegrated in international waters by Cuban MiGs, who were murdered by the Castro regime with the help of these Cuban spies.
The Obama administration will also announce that it will use its executive authority to ease a set of U.S. sanctions — also in exchange for Gross' release.
As a result of these actions, the world today will be less safe.
Rogue regimes throughout the world will take note that you can take American hostages and will be rewarded with policy concessions.
Moreover, that rogue regimes can murder Americans, have U.S. courts and juries duly convict those involved — and see justice aborted by a stroke of the president's pen.
Mauricio Claver-Carone is the executive director of Cuba Democracy Advocates.
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