by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee request records from the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Cuban operations Thursday. This request came after evidence emerged that the US government funded ZunZuneo, dubbed the “Cuban Twitter” by reports.
The Associated Press reported early last week that the Twitter-like program, administered by USAID, provided social media service to Cuban citizens from 2009 to 2012 when federal grant money ran out. The purpose of this “Cuban Twitter” was to promulgate information to undermine the communist government and gather demographic information on dissidents in Cuban.
The US government reportedly hid its involvement in ZunZuneo by creating a shell corporation in Spain to finance the operation.
Members of the Senates and House of Representative expressed concern about the program’s administration through USAID rather than an intelligence agency. “Why would we put that mission in USAID?” Republican Senator Mike Johanns asked, adding “Why wouldn’t you look at some other part of the federal government to place that mission? To me, it seems crazy.”
Documents obtained by AP show that the site’s early messages poked fun at the Castro government and were created by a satirist working for the social media project. This conflicted with earlier statements by the Obama administration that the messages were not political in nature.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is Cuban-born, defended the pro-democracy operations carried out by USAID, saying the program was “so important to offer the other side of the story, the side that promotes American values: God-given values like freedom, justice or liberty.”
Other lawmakers were uncomfortable with the idea of USAID, an organization known for providing humanitarian aid without involving itself in political situations, conducting covert operations.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate panel, said he had no prior knowledge of the Twitter-like operation, contradicting claims by SAID Administrator Rajiv Shah that Congress was properly informed.
Leahy later clarified that he was notified generally of the program, but not of the program’s risks, its political nature or the extensive efforts to conceal Washington’s involvement.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – Senate requests information on USAID internet projects – 10 April 2014
ABC News – Senator: Aid Agency Laudable for ‘Cuban Twitter’ – 9 April 2014
National Public Radio – Was ‘Cuban Twitter’ Program Political Or Not? – 9 April 2014
TIME – USAID Denies ‘Cuban Twitter’ Was Meant To Subvert – 8 April 2014
The Washington Post – U.S. secretly created ‘Cuban Twitter’ to stir unrest – 3 April 2014
