{"id":3867,"date":"2021-03-07T12:48:07","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T12:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=3867"},"modified":"2021-03-07T12:54:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T12:54:18","slug":"biden-must-reprogram-us-funds-assigned-for-subversion-in-cuba-analysts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/biden-must-reprogram-us-funds-assigned-for-subversion-in-cuba-analysts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Must Reprogram US Funds Assigned for Subversion in Cuba, Analysts Say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of the never-ending list of U.S. measures against Cuba, much is said about the six-decade economic blockade. However, less attention is paid to the former U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to maintain the program that has allocated over $250 million in the last twenty years to covert subversion operations against the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 2, during a Zoom meeting called by Code Pink, the women-led organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, the Cuban attorney and political analyst Jose Pertierra focused on what he called, \u201cone of the most disgusting components of the Helms-Burton Act: The Regime Change Section, also known by its euphemistic name of \u201cDemocracy Promoting Projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pertierra cited an article written by former National Intelligence Officer for Latin America Fulton Armstrong in which he described these \u2018Cuba programs\u2019 as those that were designed to identify, organize, train, and mobilize Cuban citizens to demand a political change in the island. \u201cThose programs have an especially problematic heritage, including embezzlement, mismanagement, and systemic politicization,\u201d the lawyer said, quoting Armstrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe funds of about $20 million a year are used effectively and in a manner consistent with U.S. law. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) fought us at every turn, refusing to divulge even basic information about the programs, citing only a document of vague \u2018program objectives.\u201d Armstrong wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Pertierra, those millions of dollars have created an industry of dissidents in both Miami and Havana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the proceeds of the regime change programs, Miami-based dissidents have established themselves in cushy offices and earn inflated salaries. Their job is to instigate dissent in Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tiny fraction of those millions make it to Cuba. What does that money buy? Pertierra said \u201cit is used to pay people to march and protest. It creates amateur journalists who are on the payroll of US regime change projects. And it rewards those who, pretending to be artists or performers, use social media to express their dissatisfaction with the government.  One so-called artist sat on a toilet with a Cuban flag draped across his shoulders, as he defecated on Facebook Live.\u201d This individual is now a cause celebre <\/em>on social media, Pertierra explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no accountability for the millions of dollars that are being spent on regime change programs because they are clandestine and covert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome in Congress would have you believe the President has no discretion in how to spend those millions of dollars. However, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) decides how to use those funds. It can reprogram them, for example, to stimulate the Central American economies and thus dissuade potential immigrants from coming to this country. The White House could also ease the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and Trump\u2019s mishandling of the health emergency,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow would struggling Americans, who are facing possible eviction from their homes because they have lost their jobs in the midst of this pandemic, feel when they find out that their government is spending more than $20 million a year to pay Miami Cubans a salary to be professional dissidents against the Cuban government?\u201d asked Pertierra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. hostility is no news<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For almost a century, \u201cthe successive administrations have created a tremendous hardship for the Cuban people. Trump just made it worse,\u201d recalled Code Pink leaders during the Zoom meeting, as they regretted that President Joe Biden has not done anything to change the course of the relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can we put pressure on the administration to take action via executive order? Code Pink asked Congressman Jim McGovern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a lot of work to do,\u201d recognized McGovern. \u201cI\u2019m frustrated because Biden could do a lot more than what he has already done. There are some decisions he could make that don\u2019t need congressional approval. For example, re-opening up our embassy in Havana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McGovern has been traveling to Cuba for decades. \u201cIn all these years, I never saw so much activity, excitement, creativity, innovation, in the Cuban people than during the last two years, after then-Presidents Obama and Raul Castro normalized relations in 2017. That year, Obama did what we had wanted the U.S. to do a long time earlier,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people took advantage of those changes building stronger partnerships, collaborating with small businesses and artists, joining researches and studies, strengthening local farmers, urging U.S. people to explore Cuba\u2019s opportunities and beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe possibilities seemed endless -McGovern said- until Trump came along to show us that everything could be worse than it once was. We realized that all could be undone, that the U.S. could go back to Cold War ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked to comment on Pertierra\u00b4s argument that the $20 million a year in regime change funds for Cuban dissidents could be reprogrammed to attend to the needs of the American people, Congressman McGovern agreed that it was something that should be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. must turn the page, said the Congressman. Trump is no longer president, and those who want to re-establish relations with Cuba are writing a new chapter. Now, with a new administration, \u201cwe have another chance to create a better future for both of our countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is possible, Jose Pertierra added. \u201cWe just need to answer the following questions: What danger does Cuba really pose to the U.S.? Has Cuba ever tried to storm the Capitol?  Have they spread lies about a presidential election? Or encouraged American citizens not to wear masks in the middle of a pandemic that has killed over half a million U.S. citizens?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuba poses no threat to the United States, and everyone knows it. Now they need to act on that knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano<\/a> \u2013 English<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of the never-ending list of U.S. measures against Cuba, much is said about the six-decade economic blockade. However, less attention is paid to the former […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":3868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-aggression"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5306,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/the-truth-always-comes-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":0},"title":"The truth always comes out","author":"Editorial Team","date":"October 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yunior Garc\u00eda Aguilera By Arthur Gonz\u00e1lez\u00a0. Even if they try to disguise things and make them look different, the truth always comes out and all the lies are discovered. This is the case with the young playwright Yunior Garc\u00eda Aguilera, a native of the Cuban province of Holgu\u00edn, trained in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "US Subversion"","block_context":{"text":"US Subversion","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/usa\/us-subversion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/yunior-garcia-aguilera.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/yunior-garcia-aguilera.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/yunior-garcia-aguilera.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/yunior-garcia-aguilera.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/yunior-garcia-aguilera.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3520,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/usaid-funds-subversive-activities-against-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":1},"title":"USAID funds subversive activities against Cuba","author":"Editorial Team","date":"November 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) serves as a fa\u00e7ade for financing subversive activities against Cuba, the official Granma daily denounces on Saturday. 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