Cuba upholds imprisoned American’s 15-year sentence

The ruling leaves Alan Gross, 62, without another opportunity for appeal. He has spent 1 1/2 years in prison, bruising relations between Cuba and the United States, which has requested his release. Gross’ lawyers say his only hope now is clemency.

“While we are not surprised, we are extremely disappointed with today’s ruling,” said Peter Kahn, Gross’ American lawyer.

Analysts said a release from the Cuban courts was never likely, in part because Gross, a technology consultant from Maryland, has become caught up in a longstanding dispute between the highest levels of the U.S. and Cuban governments.

He had been sent to Cuba as part of a semicovert U.S. Aid for International Development program that has been supported for years by conservative Cuban-American exiles. Cuban officials hate such programs, considering them an affront to sovereignty.

Since Gross was detained in December 2009 after being caught trying to hand out satellite telephone equipment that provides access to the Internet — which the Cuban government tightly controls — he has been held up as an example by both sides.

Cuban authorities have focused less on what he did than on their contention that he was part of a well-financed U.S. conspiracy to “subvert Cuban constitutional order.”

U.S. officials said earlier that they did not expect the court to throw out the conviction but held out hope that the end of the appeals process might clear the way for his release on humanitarian grounds. Gross has lost 100 pounds in jail by his own estimation, several relatives in the United States have serious illnesses and the family has had to sell its home.

Cuban officials have said privately they are sympathetic to humanitarian appeals but would not consider them until the Supreme Court ruled.

Gross’ arrest has caused soul-searching in Washington over the Cuban democracy programs. Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, put a hold on funds this spring.

“There is no evidence … that the democracy promotion programs, which have cost the U.S. taxpayer more than $150 million so far, are helping the Cuban people,” Kerry said at the time. “Nor have they achieved much more than provoking the Cuban government to arrest a U.S. government contractor.”

The New York Times and The Associated Press contributed to this report.