Cuban court upholds jail sentence for American Alan Gross

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Cuba’s highest court on Friday upheld a 15-year jail sentence for American sub-contractor Alan Gross, ending his legal recourse in a case that has stoked tension between Washington and Havana.

Gross, a resident of Maryland, was arrested in 2009 after he took communications equipment to the island nation as part of a project funded by USAID. Cuban authorities view those activities as an effort to destabilize the Communist government. Gross, 62, denied the accusation.

The White House, after the ruling was announced, demanded that Gross be released on humanitarian grounds.

--Tracy Wilkinson in Mexico City