US gov't facing lawsuit from man arrested in Havana

WASHINGTON (AP):An American imprisoned in Cuba for nearly three years is suing his former Maryland employer and the United States (US) government for US$60 million, saying they didn't adequately train him or disclose risks he was undertaking by doing development work on the Communist island.

Alan Gross and his wife, Judy, sued last Friday in federal court in Washington.

The lawsuit alleges that the economic development company Gross was working for in Cuba and the US government, with which the company had a contract, failed to provide him "with the education and training that was necessary to minimise the risk of harm to him".

Gross, 63, was arrested in December 2009 while on his fifth trip to Cuba as part of a project to increase the availability of Internet access in the country, particularly to the island's small Jewish community.

Gross was working on the effort as a subcontractor for Development Alternatives Inc, an economic development company based in Bethesda, Maryland.

The lawsuit alleges that Gross expressed concern about his project several times but was pressured by his employer to "finish the project or to find someone else who would". When the US government learned of Gross' concerns, officials also did nothing, the lawsuit says.

"I was duped. I was used. And my family and I have paid dearly for this," he said.

Diplomatic efforts to win Gross' release have so far failed.

"At this time, there are no indications that Mr Gross will return to his family within the next decade," the lawsuit says.

Gross' health has also declined in prison. He has lost more than 100lb (45 kilograms), and earlier this year he developed a mass behind his right shoulder that an American doctor has said should be assumed to be cancerous unless proven harmless.