The U.S. taxpayer-financed National Endowment for Democracy in February published a list of organizations that received $5,077,788 in NED grants for work in Cuba in 2020. The project with the highest dollar amount was worth $650,000 and titled “Promoting Greater Access to Uncensored Information to Cubans.” The NED censored the names of 15 organizations or … Read more
U.S. Agency for International Development spending for democracy projects in Cuba dropped by 70 percent from 2014 to 2015 while the Obama administration pursued improved relations with the socialist government, records show. Spending plunged even further in 2016, hitting a low of $1,197,303 during President Obama’s final year in office. USAID spending for Cuba programs … Read more
A sprawling network of U.S. government-financed groups sends cash to thousands of Cuban democracy activists, journalists and dissidents each year. At any given moment, dozens of organizations manage democracy programs on the island. Public records reveal only fleeting glimpses of the mosaic. Some programs are so secret that the recipients of funds are never disclosed. … Read more
The State Department is offering up to $1 million for programs that would boost “civil, political, religious, and labor rights in Cuba.” U.S. officials contend that Cuban authorities have “taken advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to increase repression and harassment of independent journalists and civil society activists.” “Despite these systemic efforts by the regime to … Read more
On Saturday, Cuban YouTuber, blogger and broadcaster Boris Sancho invited me to his program, Hablando Claro (Speaking Clearly), to talk about democracy-promotion projects in Cuba. The U.S. Agency for International Development has spent millions of dollars to promote democracy in Cuba. Sancho asked me how much of the money actually reaches the island. I told … Read more