The trial of an American telecommunications contractor started in Cuba on Friday.
The contractor, Alan Gross, faces a possible 20-year sentence for what the Cuban government calls an “act against the integrity and independence” of the country.
He is accused of trying to build communications networks among the Cuban opposition.
BBC Caribbean reported that it’s a case that some observers believe could have a profound impact on relations between Cuba and the United States.
Sixty-one year old Gross was carrying out work for the US government’s foreign aid and democracy agency, USAID, when he was arrested in December 2009.
His family, American and company officials, say he was bringing communications equipment to Cuba’s 15,000 strong Jewish community. But Cuban Jewish groups deny having anything to do with him.
The American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson this week offered to intervene to see Gross’s release.
