American subcontractor's arrest in Cuba confirmed

A U.S. government contractor confirmed Saturday that Cuba has detained one of its subcontractors' employees but did not comment on a report he went to the island as a tourist and was handing out laptops and communications equipment. The man arrested "was an employee of a program subcontractor, which was implementing a . . . subcontract to assist Cuban civil society organizations,'' said Development Alternatives Inc., (DAI) a suburban Washington firm supervising some $40 million in U.S. government aid for pro-democracy programs in Cuba. The statement, issued by DAI President and CEO Jim Boomgard, did not identify the employee or the subcontractor, and did not explain exactly what the man was doing in Cuba. The man's arrest could well spark a new diplomatic row between Washington and Cuba, which has long been highly sensitive to U.S. pro-democracy activities on the island and accused dissidents of being American "mercenaries'' and even spies.