Gross’s family ‘overjoyed’ at his release from Cuba

The family of Alan Gross, a contractor with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on Wednesday publicly thanked President Obama for cutting the deal that released him from the Cuban jail, where he had been held for more than five years.

“This is a Hanukkah miracle,” said Linda Gross, identified as the cousin of Alan Gross, in a phone interview on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” Tuesday morning.

{mosads}”We’re just overjoyed. That’s the message we want to put out, an overjoyed feeling. And thank you, President Obama, and whoever else was involved,” she added.

Alan Gross, a Maryland native, arrived at Andrews Air Force Base late Wednesday morning. A photo tweeted by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who was on the plane with Gross, showed him reuniting with his wife, Judy, before they left Cuba.

Judy Gross earlier this month pleaded for her husband’s release, saying he had lost more than 100 pounds, five teeth and sight in one eye while in prison.

“We’ve been jumping up and down,” Gross’s sister, Bonnie Rubinstein, said on MSNBC’s “News Nation” by phone from Dallas after her brother arrived in Maryland.

Gross’s release came as Obama announced a sweeping new effort to normalize relations with Cuba and ease restrictions on travel and trade.

“When we asked about the president’s announcement coming up, he said, ‘If this doesn’t lead to a better relationship with Cuba, then I will have wasted five years of my life,’ ” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who welcomed Gross home at the airport, on MSNBC’s “News Nation.”

“What a great way to end 2014. It’s just fabulous,” Linda Gross said on MSNBC. “We’ve been praying, chanting; we’ve been doing whatever we can to get him out.”