WASHINGTON – Dozens of friends and supporters of a Potomac man being held in Cuba gathered in Washington Monday to renew their calls for his release.

When Cuba recently announced it would free nearly 3,000 prisoners, the family of Alan Gross held out hope.

Learning that the 62-year-old Gross, jailed in Cuba since 2009, will not be among those released was heartwrenching says his wife Judy.

“It felt like somebody stabbed me in the gut, to tell you the truth,” she says.

Gross is in touch with her husband weekly.

“Emotionally he’s quite depressed and very hopeless now which is really hard to see,” she says.

Alan Gross was detained by the Cuban authorities in December of 2009.

He was tried in March of this year for allegedly trying to undermine the Cuban government.

His family and supporters say Gross, a government contractor, was distributing communications equipment to members of the Jewish community in Cuba and that he did nothing wrong.

“When I heard about this two years ago, I just thought, this is wrong. It’s somebody I know and something needs to be done,” says Lenny Levy, a childhood friend of Gross.

Judy Gross says she’s heartened by the weekly vigils in front of the Cuban Interest Section offices on 16th Street.

The U.S. and Cuba do not have embassies, but rather maintain “Interest Sections” in each other’s countries under legal protection of Swiss authorities.

Gross says she is looking forward to the time her husband can be home with her.

While the Cuban government shows no sign of budging, she holds out hope he will return.

“Of course, of course. He’s coming home,” she says.

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