Alan Gross case may focus attention on "The Five"

  Five Cubans have been in prison in the United States for 12 years for spying on anti-Castro terror groups in the U.S. They are know as "los cinco," the five, and are considered heroes inside Cuba. The case of American Alan Gross -- arrested, tried and convicted for delivering computers to expand Internet access inside Cuba as part of what the Cubans say was "a subversive project of the U.S. government that aimed to destroy the revolution" -- may focus new attention the "los cinco" and on U.S.-Cuban relations in general.
 The Cubans object to a USAID program to expand democracy in Latin America. The Americans believe it is their right to promote democracy wherever they want. Cuba sees the program as an attempt to undermine their system of government. They just might be right.
  One would hope that Washington now uses the Gross case to open talks with Havana on an exchange of prisoners. That is most certainly what Cuba hopes for.