Cuba to free nearly 3,000 prisoners.

Cuba's President Raul Castro is to free nearly 3,000 prisoners, including 86 foreigners from 25 countries, anhourago.in reported.

But an American government sub-contractor jailed in Cuba for crimes against the state was not on the list of 2,900 granted amnesty.

"Alan Gross is not on the list," Josefina Vidal, who heads the Foreign Ministry's North American affairs division, said, dashing the hopes of Mr Gross' supporters in the United States, who have been pleading with Cuban authorities to release the 62-year-old Maryland man on humanitarian grounds.

In a speech to MPs, Mr Castro said his country would pardon 2,900 prisoners, including some convicted of political crimes. He cited an upcoming visit by Pope Benedict XVI among the reasons for the amnesty, saying the humanitarian act was "a demonstration of the generosity and strength of the revolution".

He said diplomats would be notified shortly of the foreign prisoner releases.

The Cuban leader said the list was filled with inmates who, like Mr Gross, are over 60 or ailing. Others included in the amnesty are many women and young people who do not have long criminal records.

Those convicted of serious crimes like murder, espionage or drug trafficking are not part of the amnesty.

Mr Gross was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in jail for crimes against the state. The case has frozen already icy relations between Washington and Havana.

His family admits he was on a USAID-funded democracy-building programme, but insists his goal was simply to help the island's tiny Jewish community gain better access to the internet. They say he spoke almost no Spanish and came to Havana repeatedly.

Cuba says the USAID programmes seek to overthrow the government.

Mr Gross's supporters have appealed to Mr Castro for a humanitarian release. They say Mr Gross - who was obese when arrested - has lost more than 7st in jail and is now gaunt and increasingly depressed. Meanwhile, his daughter and elderly mother have both been diagnosed with cancer.

American Jewish leaders have also appealed for Mr Gross's release, saying Hanukkah festivities which began this week were a perfect opportunity.

Other high-profile inmates include two El Salvadoran men convicted of taking part in a bombing spree against Havana tourist hotels in the 1990s that killed an Italian tourist. The men were originally sentenced to death, but had their sentences reduced to life in prison earlier this year.

Cuba this year freed the last of some 75 political prisoners arrested in a notorious 2003 sweep. While others remain jailed for politically-motivated crimes, most of those were involved in acts of violence like hijacking.

Rights group Amnesty International no longer includes any Cuban prisoners among its list of "prisoners of conscience" around the world.

Benedict is due to arrive in Cuba in March, though exact dates have not been announced. His visit will be the first by a pontiff since Pope John Paul II's historic tour in 1998.