Cuba is lashing back at what it calls a campaign of distortion over the health of an imprisoned American contractor.

The government says that despite recent comments by Alan Gross's lawyer and wife that the 63-year-old Maryland native's condition is deteriorating, his health is in fact "normal."

In a statement sent to foreign journalists on Friday, the government hints at retaliatory action, noting that Gross is held in a military hospital instead of a regular prison.

The statement also implies that Cuba has damaging information that it has declined to reveal. Gross has been held since December 2009.