Cuba criticizes U.S. diplomats for meeting with dissidents

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuba criticized U.S. diplomats Saturday for meeting with political opponents after bilateral talks on immigration in Havana, accusing the American diplomats of "promoting subversion."

Cuba's Foreign Relations Ministry said in a statement the U.S. delegation had met with "dozens of their mercenaries" at the private residence of the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba.

The foreign ministry said the meeting showed "again that their priorities are more related to supporting the counterrevolution and promoting subversion to overthrow the Cuban Revolution than to creating a climate conducive to real solutions for bilateral problems."

The U.S. State Department told CNN Saturday it had done nothing wrong.

"Meeting with representatives of civil society who simply want a voice in the future of their country is not subversion," said Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley. "It is the exercise of the universal right of freedom of assembly that Cuba continues to deny its people."

Biannual talks on immigration that started in the mid-1990s were broken off in 2003 under President Bush.

They resumed last summer amid hopes for a thaw in relations between the former Cold War enemies after the election of President Obama.

Cuba's complaint came after U.S. diplomats at Friday's meeting called for the immediate release of Alan Gross, an American man jailed since December 4, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.

The detained man's wife, Judy Gross, also produced a video appeal for her husband's release this week.

"We're hoping that the U.S. officials and the Cuban officials can get together and mutually agree on a way to bring him home," she said.

Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc. said Gross was a subcontractor working on a U.S. Agency for International Development project to support "just and democratic governance" in Cuba.

In a December speech, Cuban President Raul Castro said Gross was illegally distributing "satellite communications equipment" to dissidents.

"The U.S. government has not renounced its goal of destroying the revolution," Castro said. "The enemy is as active as always. Proof of that is the detention, in the last few days, of an American citizen."

Judy Gross said her husband wasn't doing anything wrong.

"In Cuba, he was helping the Jewish community improve communications and Internet access," she said. "Alan is an incredibly loving father. We've been married 40 years. His daughters miss him terribly."

The U.S. delegation was headed by Craig Kelly, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere.

Along with urging the release of Gross, the delegation spoke about immigration issues.

The U.S. delegation said the meetings went well.

"In the course of the meeting, the U.S. team reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to promote safe, orderly and legal migration," the State Department said. "Engaging in these talks underscores our interest in pursuing constructive discussions with the government of Cuba to advance U.S. interests on issues of mutual concern."