• After 5 Years in Captivity, Cuba Has Released American Alan Gross in Prisoner Swap

    Just a few short weeks after learning that the United States launched a failed attempt to rescue one of our hostages, Luke Somers, who was being held in Yemen, we are now hearing of another hostage who has been released. Alan Gross, 65, was working as a U.S. contractor in Cuba in 2009 when he was arrested for bringing telecommunications devices into the country. He was later convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but as of this morning, Dec. 17, Gross is on a plane bound for Washington, D.C. According to ABC News, Gross has been in poor health for some time and has refused medical care. Gross is said to now be blind in one eye, suffering from arthritis in one hip and nearly toothless. He was also staging a hunger strike, which he promised would ultimately lead to his death if he was not released this year. In exchange for Gross, the U.S. has agreed to hand over three Cuban agents who were convicted of espionage back in the 1990s. Sources say all three have been housed at a federal medical facility in North Carolina.

  • Photojournalist Luke Somers Dies in Ill-Fated Rescue Attempt by US Forces

    Freedom for American photojournalist Luke Somers was so close but apparently not meant to be. The 33-year-old was kidnapped a little more than a year ago in Yemen and was shown in a videotape earlier this week asking for the U.S. to meet al-Qaida militants's demands or else he would be killed. Apparently, our government believed that Somers's death was imminent, so early Saturday, Dec. 6, it made an attempt to rescue him. Sources said U.S. soldiers were only about 100 yards from Somers and another hostage that he was held with, Pierre Korkie of South Africa, when a militant quickly shot them both. New details in the failed mission have come out this morning, Dec. 7, explaining that about 40 American special operations forces were involved in the top-secret mission. They were backed up by Yemeni ground forces and only about 100 yards from the compound where Somers and Korkie were held before being spotted by militants.
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