Reply #27: You mean: you read what Cubanet has to say about Cuba

[Mika]

When it comes to Cuba reports HRW = Cubanet.

http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/cubanetorg_and_cubacenterorg_get_millions_from_usaid_to_subvert_cuba_regime/">Cubanet.org and CubaCenter.org get millions from USAID to subvert Cuba regime

But the decision to prohibit cash payments to the Cuban opposition does not apply to the NED, which describes itself as a private, non-profit group but is funded largely by the U.S. Congress. The NED was founded in 1983 to provide support for promoting democracy overseas.

Since 2000, the NED has allocated about $4.9 million to its Cuba program, financing about a dozen groups annually.

One recipient is the Madrid-based journal Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana, which publishes the work of Cuban writers on cultural and political issues.

Another major recipient is the Cuban Democratic Directorate, an anti-Castro group based in Hialeah, Fla., that charts dissident activities and human rights violations on the island.

Sabatini said about 20 percent of the NED’s assistance to Cuba reaches the island in cash, primarily to support the work, training and travel of activists.

The NED’s Cuba budget is scheduled to double in the next fiscal year to about $2 million.

Two of the primary Cuba-related groups handling the NED’s cash payments are CubaNet ( http://www.cubanet.org>http://www.cubanet.org ), a Florida-based Web site that publishes the work of freelancers, and the Center for a Free Cuba ( http://www.cubacenter.org>http://www.cubacenter.org ), a Washington group led by anti-Castro activist Frank Calzon.

The two groups also receive USAID funding. Calzon’s organization has taken in more than $5 million in recent years and CubaNet more than $1.3 million, according to USAID figures.

Rosa Berre, director of CubaNet, said the agency sends about $3,000 a month in NED funds to Cuba to pay freelance writers and activists for articles.

“It’s valid to work for money. This is what people do,” Berre said. Nine of her freelancers in Cuba were imprisoned in the 2003 crackdown, and two others revealed themselves as spies for Cuban intelligence in testimony against those arrested.

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