U.S. lawmakers met with President Raul Castro and other senior Cuban officials Tuesday and were told they would be given access to an American imprisoned in Havana. The State Department said the legislators would push for his release. Cuban state-television showed the delegation, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy, chatting with Castro at the Palace of the Revolution. It said only that the two sides discussed “issues of mutual interest." On Monday, Leahy had said that this trip seeks principally to build on the understandings and work toward improving bilateral relations. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the congressional delegation, five senators and two representatives, would meet with jailed American Alan Gross and seek his immediate release.
