USAID Program Questioned by Dissidents

[flamingdem]

http://www.thehavananote.com/

USAID Program Questioned by Dissidents

Photo Credit: Desde La Habana

Post by Nicholas Maliska

Senator John Kerry’s decision to put a hold on U.S. aid for Cuban dissidents through the USAID’s Cuba democracy program was met with support from some seemingly unlikely people: the Cuban recipients of the funds that stand to possibly lose the money.

In an AFP article found here, several prominent Cuban dissidents state their support for a review of the $20 million program, which currently goes to support political prisoners and their families, promote the development of civil society, and provide communications equipments to opposition groups.

Laura Pollan, the leader of Damas de Blanco, a group of women whose family members are in Cuban jails and who receive funding under this program said, “it is very important that is reviewed, that there be an audit … so that there are no diversions or misinterpretations.”

Other dissidents went even further and denounced the program as counterproductive to their efforts to democratize Cuba.

Manuel Cuesta Morua, the leader of the Social Democrat movement, stated: “another consideration should be whether it is even appropriate for one government to allocate resources for the democratization of another government with which it has no relations.” Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist who was formerly a political prisoner, reiterated this belief that foreign aid should not be used to assist dissident activities, as it undermines opposition efforts and allows the Castro government to frame them as mercenaries on the U.S. payroll. Espinosa left little doubt about his feelings for this policy saying, “I have never supported that any foreign government should help Cuban dissidents.”

Kerry’s hold on the “democracy assistance” funds came as the State Department released its congressional notification on how the funds for fiscal year 2009 will be used (you can find the notification here).

Phil Peters first posted this document on the Cuban Triangle, and he points out the irony of this policy with one especially absurd example. One USAID program actually provides U.S. taxpayer dollars to support European and Latin American organizations’ travel to Cuba under a program billed as a “people-to-people” effort. Meanwhile,ordinary Americans are prohibited from traveling to Cuba to undertake similar activities.

Worse, in addition to restricting Americans interested in undertaking their own private people-to-people contact, the U.S. government has continued to divert its limited resources to investigate U.S. citizens. Just recently, the Huffington Post published a story about FBI agents questioning ten recent travelers to Cuba. The group was part of a delegation with the Venceremos Brigade, which has sent U.S. citizens to Cuba to do volunteer work and participate in cultural exchanges since 1969. Apparently, the message from the U.S. government has remained the same: it is okay for us to use your taxpayer money to pay for people from other countries to interact with Cubans, but if you travel to Cuba, be prepared to pay the consequences.

Post by Nicholas Maliska

Posted by Anya Landau French on April 2, 2010 10:35 AM | Permalink

[flamingdem]

1. Mambi Watch questions whether US citizens want to fund dissidents in Cuba

Friday, April 2, 2010

Throwing Money at the Problem

http://mambiwatch.blogspot.com/

As usual, the Cuban Triangle by Phil Peters provides essential information about Cuba and U.S. policy towards Cuba, and two recent posts made me think about how expensive U.S. policy towards Cuba can be, and without any measure of its effectiveness.

In this post, Peters notices that the 20th(!) anniversary of TV Marti, the U.S.-funded television station that transmits a variety of programs to Cuba (and which seems to lack an audience), passed last week without anyone else noticing. Surprised? (I myself couldn't find any mention of it on their website, or in the archives.) "But the program chugs on, about $10 million per year, a monument to the idea that in this corner of U.S. foreign policy, intentions can count for more than results," concludes Peters.



And in an earlier post, Peters notes how USAID, the government-funded agency that provides "foreign assistance" to a host of countries, has proposed $20 million for "civil society initiatives" inside Cuba. Peters links to a copy of the budget plan and it seems that $1.7 million will be directed towards Cuba's political prisoners and their families, such as the Ladies in White. (One can immediately imagine how the Cuban government will react to this plan.)

Other funds go to organizations like Freedom House and the International Republican Institute. But, Peters argues that President Obama should restore "people-to-people" licenses (suspended since 2003) and allow American civil society to travel to Cuba, and do for free what we are now paying millions for without any indication of effectiveness.

But, what concerns me most is the appearance that USAID is essentially funding Cuba's dissident groups, and this can become problematic on many levels. But, most importantly how do Americans feel about their government supporting a dissident movement in Cuba?

One analysis of polling data found that American don't really approve of government support towards dissidents of a non-democratic country. Instead, a majority of Americans seem to favor democracy-promoting efforts that are more cooperative and (not surprisingly) multilateral in nature towards countries that are headed towards democracy.

[Mika]

2. "....support towards dissidents of a non-democratic country"

Then Cuba doesn't even apply in this one survey.

---

[EFerrari]

3. I wonder what Senator Kerry is up to. n/t

[flamingdem]

4. Exactly. I wonder what he is doing and how this jibes w Hillary and Obama nt

[EFerrari]

5. It could have nothing to do with Cuba but part of a negotiation

with someone about something else.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Really good article. It appears they're watching policy here very closely, as always.

Glad to see it.

A Congressman from my state said when he was in Cuba once he got in a cab and spoke with the driver and discovered the guy knew even what was pending in Congress at that very moment in Cuba legislation.

Said it surprised the heck out of him.

He has been on the Cuba Working Group for years.

Thanks for the article.

Recommending.