Carter may discuss seeking release of US contractor in Cuba

Former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba on Monday in what many believe is part of a secret mission to try to seek the release of an American contractor who has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for sedition.

Carter and his wife, former first lady Roselynn Carter, arrived in Havana scheduled for a meeting with Cuban President Raúl Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

A spokesman for the former Democratic president said that the visit is geared "to learning about new economic policies and the upcoming Party Congress, and to discuss ways to improve US-Cuba relations." The two-day trip, Carter's second to the island, comes on the eve of the Cuban Communist Party congress in April.

Praises church

During his meeting with the cardinal, Carter thanked the Catholic leader for helping win the release since last year of more than 100 dissidents who had been serving long prison terms, Ortega said. Most of them have been allowed to travel to Spain.

Carter was expected to meet with Raúl Castro later on Tuesday, but it wasn't clear whether he would meet with ailing Fidel Castro before returning to the United States.

Speculation arose that the former president will try to seek the release of jailed contractor Alan Gross, 61, when he stopped by a Jewish Community Center soon after touching down in Havana.

Gross, a Jewish-American from Potomac, Maryland, was arrested in December 2009 after Cuban authorities discovered that he was handing out cellphones, radios and computers under a US State Department development program.

Despite Washington's demands that he be released, Gross was tried and convicted for crimes against the state and sedition. Obama officials say that the matter is a major obstacle to any further improvement in bilateral relations. Jewish leaders in the United States have also been pushing for his release.

Quoting sources close to Carter, CBS News reported Tuesday that the former president is trying to at least visit Gross in prison, even if he cannot secure his release. The Cuban government has assured Gross' family that the original case isn't closed even though they have filed an appeal with the Cuban courts.