Groups: Secret US effort in Cuba hurts aid work

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. program in Cuba that secretly used an HIV-prevention workshop for political activism was criticized Monday by international public health officials and members of Congress who said such clandestine efforts put health programs at risk around the world.

Beginning in late 2009, the U.S. Agency for International Development deployed nearly a dozen young people from Latin America to Cuba to recruit political activists, an Associated Press investigation found. The operation put the foreigners in danger not long after a U.S. contractor was hauled away to a Cuban jail.

Sen. Patrick Leahy said Monday it would be “worse than irresponsible” if USAID “concocted” an HIV-prevention workshop to promote a political agenda.

And InterAction, an alliance of global non-governmental aid groups, said, “The use of an HIV workshop for intelligence purposes is unacceptable. The U.S. government should never sacrifice delivering basic health services or civic programs to advance an intelligence goal.”

The Obama administration defended its use of the HIV-prevention workshop for its Cuban democracy-promotion efforts but disputed that the project was a front for political purposes. The program “enabled support for Cuban civil society, while providing a secondary benefit of addressing the desires Cubans express for information and training about HIV prevention,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Documents and interviews make clear that the program was aimed at recruiting a younger generation of opponents to Cuba’s Castro government. It is illegal in Cuba to work with foreign democracy-building programs. Documents prepared for the USAID-sponsored program called the HIV workshop the “perfect excuse” to conduct political activity.

Leahy, who is chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees USAID, said in response to the AP’s findings: “It may have been good business for USAID’s contractor, but it tarnishes USAID’s long track record as a leader in global health.”

The White House is still facing questions about a once-secret “Cuban Twitter” project, known as ZunZuneo. That program, launched by USAID in 2009 and uncovered by the AP in April, established a primitive social media network under the noses of Cuban officials. USAID’s inspector general is investigating it.

In April, Leahy called the ZunZuneo program “dumb, dumb, dumb.”

But on Monday, not all lawmakers were critical. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said USAID’s programs were important for human rights in Cuba. “We must continue to pressure the Castro regime and support the Cuban people, who are oppressed on a daily basis,” said Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban native and vocal supporter of pro-democracy programs there.

The latest criticisms come months after a pledge by the CIA to stop using vaccine programs — such as one in Pakistan that targeted Osama bin Laden — to gather intelligence.

In the HIV workshop effort, the AP’s investigation found the Latin American travelers’ efforts were fraught with incompetence and risk. One worker said he got a paltry, 30-minute seminar on how to evade Cuban intelligence, and there appeared to be no safety net for the inexperienced workers if they were caught.

In all, nearly a dozen Latin Americans served in the program in Cuba, for pay as low as $5.41 an hour.

Drawing on documents and interviews worldwide, the AP found the travelers program went to extensive lengths to hide the workers’ activities. They were to communicate in code: “I have a headache” meant they suspected they were being monitored by Cuban authorities; “Your sister is ill” was an order to cut their trip short.

To evade Cuban authorities, travelers installed innocent-looking content on their laptops to mask sensitive information. They used encrypted memory sticks to hide their files and sent obviously encrypted emails using a system that might have drawn suspicion.

Both the travelers program and ZunZuneo were part of a larger, multimillion-dollar effort by USAID to effect change in politically volatile countries, government data show. But the programs reviewed by the AP didn’t appear to achieve their goals and operated under an agency known more for its international aid work than stealthy operations.

The AP found USAID and its contractor, Creative Associates International, continued the travelers program even as U.S. officials privately told their government contractors to consider suspending travel to Cuba after the arrest of contractor Alan Gross, who remains imprisoned after smuggling in sensitive technology.

“We value your safety,” one senior USAID official said in an email concerning the Latin American travelers. “The guidance applies to ALL travelers to the island, not just American citizens,” another official said.

Creative Associates declined to comment, referring questions to USAID.

“All governments need to make trade-offs, for example, between civil liberties and public safety,” said Les Roberts, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“Without the appearance of neutrality,” Roberts said, “few things USAID wants to do internationally can be achieved.”

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Orsi reported from Havana, and Rodriguez from Santa Clara, Cuba. Associated Press writers Hannah Dreier in Caracas, Venezuela; Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru; Raphael Satter in Dublin; Alberto Arce in San Jose, Costa Rica; and Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.

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Contact the AP’s Washington investigative team at [email protected]. On Twitter, follow Butler at https://twitter.com/desmondbutler; Gillum at https://twitter.com/jackgillum; Arce at https://twitter.com/alberarce; and Rodriguez at https://twitter.com/arodriguezap.

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Online:

Documents about the program at http://apne.ws/UxJ05x

Link to the unabridged story: http://apne.ws/1v2xBLO