Thursday, November 16, 2006

Misuse of funds destined for Cuban dissidents, according to GAO

A report published on Wednesday by the General Accounting Office (GAO) found the misuse of millions of dollars of funds provided by the U.S. government to promote democracy in Cuba. The report found that some funds were used to purchase goods like medicines, books, and sweaters to then have illicitly smuggled into Cuba. The executive director of one Miami-based anti-Castro group tried to justify sending Godiva chocolates to Cuba by observing that “these people are going hungry. They never get any chocolate there.” A few U.S. congressmen have called for an overhaul of the fund distribution program and a change in U.S. policy to Cuba based on the “disturbing” conclusions from the GAO’s report.

Links- Reuters AlertNet, San Jose Mercury News

Image- pfpix.com (Cubans buying imported clothes at a dollar store)

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2 comments:

redwood said...

in one case, GAO found

“Significant commingling of funds between the Executive Director’s personal bank account, the USAID grant account, and the private donations account.”

page 36

Indeed, perhaps as much as 30% went unaccounted for, which is well into corruption level.

Suffice it to say that we lined quite few pockets in Florida.

But for me, the unsettling problem is that the whole strategy is textbook mafia politics, or, worse still, the kind of seductive methods a pedophile would use.

Next we’ll be calling in our favors. Disgusting.

But even if you’re not as offended as I am by that kind of coercion,

(1) it discredits the recipients in the eyes of other Cubans. They are seen as “beggars,” in the words of one Cuban I know.

And (2) it puts the few Cubans who did receive the “gifts” at risk for the lives.

And that makes immoral the strategy of “gifting” Cubans into our way of government.

4:38 PM
Erwin C. said...

These are the problems that arise, unfortunately, from giving exiled groups centered in Miami too much political leverage. Mind you, I'm not saying that their anti-Castro message is wrong or that they are all implicated in the misuse of USAID funds. Rather, I imply that aid going to dissidents be channeled through other groups like Cuban exiled groups in other parts of the U.S. or other humanitarian organizations.

4:20 PM

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