Latin America
Related: About this forumUSAID Subversion in Latin America Not Limited to Cuba
Published on Sunday, April 6, 2014 by CEPR's The Americas Blog
USAID Subversion in Latin America Not Limited to Cuba
by Dan Beeton
A new investigation by the Associated Press into a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project to create a Twitter-style social media network in Cuba has received a lot of attention this week, with the news trending on the actual Twitter for much of the day yesterday when the story broke, and eliciting comment from various members of Congress and other policy makers. The ZunZuneo project, which AP reports was aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government, was overseen by USAIDs Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI). AP describes OTI as a division that was created after the fall of the Soviet Union to promote U.S. interests in quickly changing political environments without the usual red tape. Its efforts to undermine the Cuban government are not unusual, however, considering the organizations track record in other countries in the region.
As CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot described in an interview with radio station KPFAs Letters and Politics yesterday, USAID and OTI in particular have engaged in various efforts to undermine the democratically-elected governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti, among others, and such open societies could be more likely to be impacted by such activities than Cuba. Declassified U.S. government documents show that USAIDs OTI in Venezuela played a central role in funding and working with groups and individuals following the short-lived 2002 coup detat against Hugo Chávez. A key contractor for USAID/OTI in that effort has been Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI).
More recent State Department cables made public by Wikileaks reveal that USAID/OTI subversion in Venezuela extended into the Obama administration era (until 2010, when funded for OTI in Venezuela appears to have ended), and DAI continued to play an important role. A State Department cable from November 2006 explains the U.S. embassys strategy in Venezuela and how USAID/OTI activities support [the] strategy:
(S) In August of 2004, Ambassador outlined the country team's 5 point strategy to guide embassy activities in Venezuela for the period 2004 ) 2006 (specifically, from the referendum to the 2006 presidential elections). The strategy's focus is: 1) Strengthening Democratic Institutions, 2) Penetrating Chavez' Political Base, 3) Dividing Chavismo, 4) Protecting Vital US business, and 5) Isolating Chavez internationally.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/06
Mika
(17,751 posts)There's a contingent of useful idiots here who think America is as innocent as an angel in Latin America. Actually, they insist on it.
Flatulo
(5,005 posts)or expressing support for meddling.
I'm just not seeing it.
I think there's a good deal of conflating dislike for this or that regime with support for US efforts to destabilize them. The two positions are completely different.
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)If you don't see it, it's because you refuse to search.
As Richard Helms, former CIA director wrote in his own notes, Richard M. Nixon told him he wanted him, Richard Helms, to arrange to "make the economy scream" in Chile during the Presidency of the elected President Salvador Allende. Which they did.
There has been so much written about the evil they were doing starting so long ago, you'd have to be willfully ignorant to avoid having learned far more than that long ago.
You have no one to blame but yourself. The evil they were doing then has only become more proficient, slicker, more effective through practice over the decades. Their "moral" perspective certainly hasn't changed.
You'll find no one but right-wingers to agree with you on the piety of the bully from the North, unless you intend to cast your lot with the right-wingers who admit they support doing whatever is needed to destroy everyone in the way of controlling every inch of earth, and stealing every surviving helpless man/woman/child blind.
Oele
(128 posts)Could you point us to a recent post here on DU where someone denies that US meddling in LA took place?
Flatulo
(5,005 posts)Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Hugo was innoculated with cancer, and that Obama is trying to have Maduro assassinated, and that food supply shortages in Venezuela is caused by hoarders.
Paolo123
(297 posts)I have known that USAID has done some much good work in the world, however that is all for nothing if it is also undermining democratic institutions and alienating USAID/The United States from the people that they state they are helping.
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)I don't know how much it had been, as my dad had alzheimers and now is passed when I learned about the "Vietnam Project" that might have still had some damaging effects at the university he worked when on a USAID project in Thailand for them after "Citizen Stan" resigned as the head of the project that my dad worked for over there when it was more involved in Vietnam.
In the "Vietnam Project", the CIA had infiltrated this project under USAID and had helped the South Vietnamese government learn to use torture against the Viet Cong in the beginning of the Vietnam war back in the late 50's early 60's. Watch the movie "Citizen Stan" to about Stan Sheinbaum that is talked about here...
http://www.citizenstan.com/
Original web site I'd found a famous old ramparts article that talked about this issue has been taken down but is still available here...
https://webspace.utexas.edu/hcleaver/www/357L/357LMSUinVietnam.htm
Here's a PDF made of the old "CIA on campus" web site...
http://humanbeingsfirst.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/cacheof-cia-on-campus.pdf
Note that former MSU president John Hannah was made the head of USAID after these projects back in the 60's that was perhaps "payback" for this kind of involvement MSU had with USAID's more unsavory activities.
I know at least one name mentioned here was one that my Dad worked for back then in Thailand.
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)Found this review:
Review (Amazon)
An inspiring story of a man who has fought for the underdog... --Robert McNamara
...a savvy inside player, and one driven by humanistic ideals....documentary is well made. --Variety
The most powerful man you've never heard of,...Stanley Sheinbaum. --California Film Institute
Product Description
Citizen Stan profiles the amazing life of Stanley Sheinbaum, a citizen activist who has negotiated with Prime Ministers, Presidents and Kings, and found himself in league with gang leaders, peaceniks and Palestinians. Growing up in the rag trade and Vaudeville of New York City, Stanley Sheinbaum served during WWII making silk maps for combat aviators. Using his GI bill to graduate from Stanford, Sheinbaum was hired in the 1950s to co-direct a CIA-funded project at Michigan State University. The MSU project wrote the constitution for South Vietnam, and helped to set up its police force. Over a decade later, Sheinbaum evolved into a vocal critic of the Vietnam War, organizing campus teach-ins, and landing on Nixon's Enemies List. Daniel Ellsberg used Sheinbaum as his defense strategist during the Pentagon Papers trial. Around that same time, Sheinbaum took great personal risk to travel to Athens, and save his friend, Andreas Papandreou, from being killed by the Greek junta. Papandreou later became Prime Minister of Greece for a number of terms. Sheinbaum used this connection to further the back channel diplomacy he became known for. In a bold move, Sheinbaum found a way to open a dialogue with Yasser Arafat, and persuaded Arafat to formally denounce terrorism and recognize Israel. At the request of President Clinton, Sheinbaum traveled to Damascus to set up a summit with Syria s President Assad. Well-connected to Hollywood, Sheinbaum became a crucial fundraiser for political candidates and causes, including the ACLU. During the Los Angeles riots in 1992, as President of the Police Review Commission, Sheinbaum sparred with Police Chief Daryl Gates, ultimately forcing him to resign. A man you ought to know about, Sheinbaum s life story holds lessons for all who seek peace and understanding among the world s citizens.
Really want to see this when it can be arranged.
Have saved for later quiet study, your two excellent links. The information should be far more widely known. This is a great chance to learn what we need to know.