$6M ‘raffle’ for oppositionists is exposed
A U.S. government raffle of $6 million for groups engaged in the overthrow of the Cuban system was exposed through a security blunder, The Miami Herald revealed on Monday the 18th.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently exchanged information with the U.S. Interests Section in Havana about bids the USAID had received from anti-Cuban groups in the U.S. and on the island for slices of the $6-million pie.
Unfortunately for the USAID, transmission of the data was done on an unencrypted communications line – an open, nonsecure line – practically guaranteeing that Havana’s security agency would intercept the information and learn who on the island is asking for how much U.S. money and for what.
(The Herald story can be accessed at
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/17/3760633_p2/cuba-believed-to-have-intercepted.html )
The Herald, which described the data as “pro-democracy programs,” said the $6 million was offered “to train emerging leaders of Cuba’s nongovernment sectors.” With the money, the so-called dissidents could “travel outside of Cuba to gain technical skills and experiential learning in an array of fields,” the USAID promised, as quoted in The Herald.
The USAID offer gave no details about the “technical skills” or the “array of fields” that the oppositionists could gain access to “outside of Cuba” – presumably the United States.
The Cuban government sees the oppositionists as Fifth-Columnists intent on undermining the nation’s socialist system and restoring the plutocracy that existed until 1959. In the past, “nongovernment organizations” in the U.S. have bankrolled terrorist missions into the island that have resulted in death and destruction.
At least four groups applied for the money, The Herald reported. Not surprisingly, after the USAID realized its gaffe, “each of the applicants received rejection letters that […] noted that their proposals were weak in one way or another,” the newspaper said. The project’s cover had been blown.
Another USAID covert operation was exposed in December 2009, when Alan Gross, a USAID subcontractor, was arrested for trying to smuggle sensitive telecommunications equipment into Cuba, in violation of Cuban law. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The danger in funneling money to anti-Cuban activists for constructive “pro-democracy” purposes is that the money can just as easily be used for destructive purposes whose only purpose would be to perpetuate the rift between Cuba and the United States. Most assuredly, the Cuban government is watching very closely such attempts. A $6 million mountain of cash makes for a slippery slope.
