The US Is Still Trying to Overthrow the Cuban Government

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According to the Associated Press, the U.S. government is still engaged in efforts to overthrow the Cuban government. Starting in 2010, a group of U.S. officials working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) hired high-tech contractors to stir up revolution in Cuba via social media.

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press and multiple interviews with people involved in the project, the plan was to develop a bare-bones “Cuban Twitter,” using cellphone text messaging to evade Cuba’s strict control of information and its stranglehold restrictions over the Internet. In a play on Twitter, it was called ZunZuneo — slang for a Cuban hummingbird’s tweet.

Documents show the U.S. government planned to build a subscriber base through “non-controversial content”: news messages on soccer, music and hurricane updates. Later when the network reached a critical mass of subscribers, perhaps hundreds of thousands, operators would introduce political content aimed at inspiring Cubans to organize “smart mobs” — mass gatherings called at a moment’s notice that might trigger a Cuban Spring, or, as one USAID document put it, “renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society.”

The plan was to disseminate propaganda that would generate “mass gatherings called at a moment’s notice that might trigger a Cuban Spring, or, as one USAID document put it, ‘renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society.'”

“There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement,” one memo from the project said. “This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission.”

AP:

The program’s legality is unclear: U.S. law requires that any covert action by a federal agency must have a presidential authorization and that Congress should be notified.

The Obama administration on Thursday said the program was not covert and that it served an important purpose by helping information flow more freely to Cubans. Parts of the program “were done discreetly,” Rajiv Shah, USAID’s top official, said on MSNBC, in order to protect the people involved.

The administration also initially said Thursday that it had disclosed the program to Congress — White House spokesman Jay Carney said it had been “debated in Congress” — but hours later shifted that to say it had offered to discuss funding for the program with several congressional committees. “We also offered to brief our appropriators and our authorizers,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

…”If you’re going to do a covert operation like this for a regime change, assuming it ever makes any sense, it’s not something that should be done through USAID,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USAID’s budget.

The administration can obfuscate all it wants about how transparent the effort was. What seems clear is that neither Congress or the American people knew about this effort. That means several things. First, it’s very likely illegal. Second, it represents an attempt to depose a foreign government that does not threaten the U.S. And third, it is anti-democratic to its very core since it was done without approval from the American people or their elected representatives. Taken together, it is ironic to say the least that this program was justified with claims of bringing democracy and the rule of law to Cuba.

The U.S. has a long and sordid history of committing serious crimes in Cuba. In modern history, this includes hiring organized crime syndicates to assassinate Cuba’s sitting president and training a counter-revolutionary militia to invade and overthrow the government. Both efforts failed. This is not to mention the decades of economic embargo which has contributed to mass suffering in Cuba.

When will this stop?

At the ceremony for the death of Nelson Mandela, Obama made headlines when he walked up to Raul Castro and shook his hand. The historic gesture seemed to say, “we don’t have to be enemies anymore.” If only Castro knew a program started by that same U.S. president sought to topple his government.

15 thoughts on “The US Is Still Trying to Overthrow the Cuban Government”

  1. The program was started in accordance with "US Laws," are they saying that their law when applied have universal jurisdiction in any sovereign country?

    1. That must be what the US governments thinks. It safe to say they maybe think we even dumber than they are

      1. I­m mak­ing ­over $­1­3k a month working ­part tim­e. I kept hea­ring other p­eople tell me­ how much m­oney they can ma­ke­ online­ so I d­ecide­d to look int­o­ it. Wel­, it was all tru­e and ha­s totally ch­anged­ my life. ­This is­ wha­t I do,

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  2. Last UN vote to end illegal U.S.sanctions against Cuba: 188 to 2, the two being the us and Israel.

    Look even just on Wikipedia on how much the USA loved the dictator before Castro because he made us companies rich by repressing the population. The US ambassador was considered the second, and sometimes the first, most powerful person in Cuba.

    Usa just wants Cuba to be a cash machine again like it made Haiti into thanks to Clinton.

  3. I doubt Castro was fooled by Obama's empty gestures, not after Cuban intelligence sources documented at least 638 attempts to kill his brother Fidel: http://documentaryheaven.com/638-ways-to-kill-cas
    Corporations eager for cheap labor, and the displaced Cuban "aristocracy," will never stop trying to subvert Cuban independence.

  4. Many people say Ehud Barack Obama should not be compared to the late JFK and JFK was much better. He should be compared to him because neither one of them were great presidents. What they both have in common are good looks, good personalities, good family people but ineffective presidents.
    Another thing they both have in common is their attempt to overthrow the Castros.

  5. I visited Cuba—-twice.

    I walked its magnificent beaches in Varadero; I visited Che Gueverra's tomb in Santa Clara; I walked the streets of Havana and admired its rich culture; I visited (and had a drink in) the small town of Remedios and visited a 500-year-old church while there; I also sat in the bar Hemingway frequented. I discovered that while the U.S. has no 'embassy' per se in Cuba……curiously, they have a "U.S. Special Interests Office" in Havana, which I stood outside while scratching my head, wondering what the hell what THAT was all about. I stood in the very spot where Castro gave his Revolution Victory speech. Also while there, I met people from all over the world, either on business or just vacationing—–Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, etc.——–but not a single American. One day, I was very thirsty, so I went into one of their convenience stores to get something to drink. Know what i purchased? A Coke. Yes. A CAN OF COCA-COLA! I also could have had Sprite, Dr. Pepper, you name it. Apparently, what's good for the corporate goose is NOT good for the general population gander. Sad.

    The day I see an Arby's or McDonald's open up in Cuba is the day its fate will be sealed, I think. It will be a shame. In the meantime, ordinary average American's are getting shafted by their own government by being forbidden to take a great, affordable vacation there.

  6. This Tweet-of-Pigs episode reveals that the MIC is in charge of US government foreign policy and that the members of the executive branch are merely front men.

  7. The Castro regime would probably have fallen decades ago if the US had pursued good open relations instead of constant threats of assassination and invasion. I think the Cuban expats living in Southern Florida, who claim to want Castro out and lobby to keep the embargo, have accomplished the opposite of what they intended. Why is the US gov't so afraid of this small minority?

  8. But this is just splitting hairs. The underlying reality is that if some past President of the United States had handed over, say, Maine to Canada on a whim – as Nikita Khrushchev handed Crimea over to Ukraine in 1953 – would anyone in the US dispute the results of a referendum reintegrating it back into the Union?

  9. But this is just splitting hairs. The underlying reality is that if some past President of the United States had handed over, say, Maine to Canada on a whim a?? as Nikita Khrushchev handed Crimea over to Ukraine in 1953 a?? would anyone in the US dispute the results of a referendum reintegrating it back into the Union?

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