On Wednesday morning, senior American officials told reporters about the release of Alan Gross, an American USAID subcontractor who had been held in prison for just over five years in Cuba. Gross, whose detainment inspired a passionate and high-profile public campaign for his release in the United States, has reportedly been swapped for three members of the "Cuban Five"—five Cuban spies who were arrested in Miami in the late 1990s and later convicted on espionage and conspiracy charges.