.U.S. says contractor arrested in Cuba is no spy

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Thursday, 01.07.10
.U.S. says contractor arrested in Cuba is no spy
BY FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]

This much is certain about the U.S. contractor arrested in Cuba last month: He gave civilian groups communications gear.

But the specific nature of the equipment, which remains a mystery, threatens to complicate his legal case in Cuba -- and some experts say it could bolster the Castro government's contention that he was a spy on a mission to destabilize the regime.

It's unclear what Cuba ultimately plans to do with the contractor, whose name has not been released, but experts say that he could be used as a bargaining chip in future discussions between the United States and Cuba.

Washington has long supplied Cuban dissidents with laptop computers and cell phones. But the Development Alternatives Inc. subcontractor arrested Dec. 5 in Havana worked with sophisticated telecommunications equipment.

Analysts say the gear was probably designed to help Cubans talk or surf the web via satellite, circumventing the government network. Critics of U.S. policy say that makes his legal status there murky.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1415001.html

[daleo]

1. Consider the reverse situation

A Cuban contractor gors to the U.S. and gives communications equipment to American "civilian groups". What would be the response of the U.S. security apparatus and justice system?

[AlphaCentauri]

2. the Cuban 6?

[naaman fletcher]

14. huh?

If a Cuban came here and gave cell phones and satellite phones to people nobody would care at all, actually.

Why are you so quick to defend a country that censors every day speech? Is there something liberal or democratic about that which I am missing?

[AlphaCentauri]

16. But if those phones were used to listen to news from Cuba

do you think the government would allow it?

[naaman fletcher]

17. Yes, its not illegal to listen to news from Cuba here.

[carla]

26. It is not illegal

to watch US programming in Cuba. It is the governments job to monitor intelligence and propaganda activities against its people.Radio Marti spends its US budget lying about what happens in Cuba. Sources of disinformation are not tolerated when a country's security is at risk. The contractor/CIA agent was arrested for violating espionage laws. The US has arrested 100's and imprisoned them long term for espionage. Why should Cuba not be afforded the same type of tools for governing? Americans are often hypocrite about issues involving Cuba and or leftists. Time for you all to let the scales fall from your eyes and realize it's a tit for tat world.

[ronnie624]

19. If those cell phones and satellite phones

were used in a covert campaign by a foreign power to undermine our government and political process, many would care, and the Cuban would surely be arrested.

[naaman fletcher]

21. Perhaps..

but nobody would ever know that foreign agent was here doing that because it is not illegal to give people phones here, because despite our flaws we are not a totalitarian regieme

[Mika]

23. Have you heard of the Cuban Five?

www.freethefive.org

---

[naaman fletcher]

24. I had not until now,

but is the following untrue? Sounds a lot worse than giving out cell phones:

"At their trial, evidence was presented that the Five infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, obtained employment at the Key West Naval Air Station in order to send the Cuban government reports about the base, and had attempted to penetrate the Miami facility of US Southern Command.<2> "

Yes, it is wikipedia, so I am totally open to it being false.

[Vidar]

3. That's a spy by any normal definition.

[naaman fletcher]

15. What definition are you using?

A spy is usually one who gathers information, this guys wasn't gathering information, and if anyone did what he did here, it would be a normal activity.

[Downwinder]

4. The Gov. also said Gary Powers wasn't a spy.

He was just a pilot.

[ronnie624]

5. DAI. I wonder what that is.

A front for the CIA, maybe. I visited their web site, but it isn't really clear what they actually do. They're closely associated with USAID.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Here's a quick google grab which might help a little, maybe:

An article published in the December 12th edition of the New York Times
revealed the detention of a US government contract employee in Havana
this past December 5th. The employee, whose name has not yet been
disclosed, works for Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), one of the
largest US government contractors providing services to the State
Department, the Pentagon and the US Agency for International
Development (USAID). The employee was detained while distributing
cellular telephones, computers and other communications equipment to
Cuban dissident and counterrevolutionary groups that work to promote US
agenda on the Caribbean island.

Last year, the US Congress
approved $40 million to “promote transition to democracy” in Cuba. DAI
was awarded the main contract, “The Cuba Democracy and Contingency
Planning Program”, with oversight by State and USAID. The use of a
chain of entities and agencies is a mechanism employed by the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) to channel and filter funding and strategic
political support to groups and individuals that support US agenda
abroad. The pretext of “promoting democracy” is a modern form of CIA
subversion tactics, seeking to infiltrate and penetrate civil society
groups and provide funding to encourage “regime change” in
strategically important nations, such as Venezuela, with governments
unwilling to subcomb to US dominance.

DAI IN VENEZUELA

DAI
was contracted in June 2002 by USAID to manage a multimillion dollar
contract in Venezuela, just two months after the failed coup d’etat
against President Hugo Chávez. Prior to this date, USAID had no
operations in Venezuela, not even an office in the Embassy. DAI was
charged with opening the Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI), a
specialized branch of USAID that manages large quantities of liquid
funds destined for organizations and political parties favorable to
Washington in countries of strategic interest that are undergoing
political crises.

The first contract between USAID and DAI for
its Venezuela operations authorized $10 million for a two year period.
DAI opened its doors in the Wall Street of Caracas, El Rosal, in August
2002, and began to immediately fund the same groups that just months
earlier had executed - unsuccessfully – the coup against President
Chávez. The USAID/DAI funds in Venezuela were distributed to
organizations such as Fedecámaras and the Confederación de Trabajadores
Venezolanos (CTV), two of the principal entities that had led the coup
in April 2002 and that later headed another attempt to oust Chávez by
imposing an economic sabotage and oil industry strike that crippled the
nation’s economy. One contract between DAI and these organizations,
dated December 2002, awarded more than $10,000 to help design radio and
television propaganda against President Chávez. During that time
period, Venezuela experienced one of the most viscious media wars in
history. Private television and radio stations, together with print
media, devoted non-stop programming to opposition propaganda for 64
days, 24 hours a day.

In February 2003, DAI began to fund a
recently created group named Súmate, led by Maria Corina Machado, one
of the signators of the “Carmona Decree”, the famous dictatorial decree
that dissolved all of Venezuela’s democratic institutions during the
brief April 2002 coup d’etat. Súmate soon became the principal
opposition organization directing campaigns against President Chávez,
including the August 2004 recall referendum. The three main agencies
from Washington operating in Venezuela at that time, USAID, DAI and the
National Endowment for Democracy (“NED”), invested more than $9 million
in the opposition campaign to oust Chávez via recall referendum,
without success. Chávez won with a 60-40 landslide victory.

More:
http://www.mediaisland.org/en/employee-cia-front-organization-working-venezuela-was-detained-cuba-week

~~~~~~~

More on Sneaky US Contractor in Cuba: How Did He Get Equipment into the Country?
2009 December 15

tags: Cuba, USAID, electronic equipment, DAI, Development Alternatives Inc
by magbana

Below is a detailed statement by the President of Development Alternatives, Inc. regarding the company’s mission in Cuba on behalf of the USAID.. Following that is an excellent comment pointing to some very necessary questions that should be asked about this whole affair.

As for, where did the equipment come from? One should safely assume that if not from the US Interests Section, it came from one of the embassies of the US’ lackeys — maybe Canada.

CUBAN TRIANGLE
MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009

USAID contractor’s statement on American detained in Cuba http://cubantriangle.blogspot.com/2009/12/usaid-contractors-statement-on-american.html

This statement was cited in news reports over the weekend:

Statement from Dr. Jim Boomgard, President and CEO of Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI)The New York Times and other media outlets have reported the detention of a U.S. citizen in Cuba linked to DAI.DAI is a professional economic development organization that has for 40 years been working to bring development benefits to millions of disadvantaged people in more than 100 countries worldwide ( www.dai.com ).Our prime concern is for the safety, well-being, and quick return to the United States of the detained individual. We have been working closely with the State Department to ensure that the detainee’s safety and well-being is given top priority. Given the delicacy of this situation, we ask for media discretion. All inquires should be directed to the State Department.In 2008, DAI competed for and was awarded a contract, the Cuba Democracy and Contingency Planning Program, to help the U.S. Government implement activities in support of the rule of law and human rights, political competition, and consensus building, and to strengthen civil society in support of just and democratic governance in Cuba(www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/country/cuba/).

The new program was also designed to help the U.S. Government address challenges raised about some aspects of its program in the past (November 2006 GAO report on US Democracy Assistance for Cuba — www.gao.gov/new.items/d07147.pdf ). DAI was engaged on the basis of its positive track record in development, and its capacity to provide sound management and administration of key aspects of U.S. Government programs such as this one, which involves support for the peaceful activities of a broad range of nonviolent organizations through competitively awarded grants and subcontracts.

The detained individual was an employee of a program subcontractor, which was implementing a competitively issued subcontract to assist Cuban civil society organizations.

{December 12, 2009}

COMMENT ON USAID CONTRACTOR DETAINED IN CUBA
Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:07 pm (PST)
(Terrific comment by blogger “leftside” on the US agent
caught by the Cubans in the act of distributing material
aid to subversive elements in Cuba. Just imagine how this
guy got the laptops and cell phones he was distributing in
Cuba? He certainly did not bring them in and go through
Cuban customs with them. Where did he get them? And how
were they provided to him on the ground inside of Cuba?
There must be a thousand other questions one might think
to ask about this escapade. It boggles the imagination.)

More:
http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/more-on-sneaky-us-contractor-in-cuba-how-did-he-get-equipment-into-the-country/

[ronnie624]

9. Their hokey web site was a dead give-away.

Finding that a number of their "experts" work for USAID, left little doubt about their purpose and intentions.

Thanks for the links. Eva Golinger certainly does her homework.

[bitchkitty]

11. If they're associated with uSAID, then they're

associated with the CIA (if USAID is the same org as AID was in Indonesia in the 60s)

[laconicsax]

7. What would they say if he was?

Would they just come right out and say, "Yeah, you got us. He's a spy. Well done."

[JVS]

8. Bob Novak notwithstanding, we normally don't out our operatives.

[DeeOwl]

10. What else are they going to say?

Yeah, you got us!

???

Always deny, deny, deny! I'm surprised they admitted he even worked for them. In these types of situations they usually overdo it with denial scenarios and then they slowly backtrack on various details until everyone is confused proper. Very sloppy work, very sloppy... reminds me of stuff I read on intelligence operations ran by KGB in mid 1980s. Some extremely comical stuff went on. I assume my tax dollars fund our intelligence community, if so, somebody should be getting fired right about now.

[zeemike]

12. no need to spend a lot of time on covering it up

It is not like there is a media out there willing to call them on it.

[MetaTrope]

13. Enhanced interrogation should bring the truth to light soon enough

Pity they can't bring in U.S. expertise on the matter.

[Mudoria]

18. I'm pretty sure they're well versed in the subject without outside help

[ronnie624]

20. In order to know for certain, however, we'll need some reliable documentation.

Do you have any?

[ngant17]

22. guilty as charged, and make sure he gets the same sentence

as all of the Cuban 5 combined, plus an extra 50 years for good measure.

Too bad it's not like the ole pre-1959 days of Bastista/Machado terror, they would stick him in Morro castle<http://tinyurl.com/yl7okaj>, torture and drop him down the old stack for the usual shark bait.

Hats off to Pres. Obama for sending this dumb ass down there, please keep the spook fodder coming. A few more ought to be decent bargaining chips for the Cuban Five.

[The abyss]

25. Judi – good story!

Thanks for bringing to the "table"

I had seen this reported on other sites. Good to see it linked here.

As noted by others – always be wary of any organization associated with USAID. That should go without saying.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Thanks, The abyss. Just saw an update, posted below. Really odd. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

27. Detainee was helping Cuban Jewish groups involved in U.S. democracy project

Detainee was helping Cuban Jewish groups involved in U.S. democracy project
By Mary Beth Sheridan and William Booth
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

An American who has been jailed in Cuba and denounced as a spy is a 60-year-old international development expert from Potomac who was working on a U.S. government project to help the island's Jewish community access the Internet, according to former colleagues and other sources.

The arrest of Alan P. Gross was the clearest sign yet of a chill between Washington and Havana, after an initial warming under the Obama administration. The Cuban government has not charged Gross. But it has kept him in prison since his Dec. 4 arrest and has portrayed his activities as part of a long-running U.S. campaign for regime change in the island nation.

Gross was working for a controversial democracy-promotion program -- which had ballooned under the Bush administration -- to provide communications equipment to break the Cuban government's "information blockade."

Friends said Gross was excited about the program and did not seem to realize the danger he faced.

"It was probably pure naiveness, innocence -- not seeing anything wrong with what he was doing," said Bob Rourke, a development consultant who has known Gross for 20 years. "He's definitely not a shrewd, calculating person. He's someone who genuinely gets into situations because he thinks he can help."

The U.S. government and Gross's employer, Bethesda-based Development Alternatives Inc., had declined to identify him until now, apparently hoping that the case would be resolved quietly. But last week, the Cuban National Assembly president, Ricardo Alarcón, accused Gross of being "contracted to work for American intelligence services."

The U.S. government has denied that, describing Development Alternatives as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011203213.html