Friday, July 15, 2011

Dems, State Dept near resolution on Cuba money

Posted on Thursday, 07.14.11

Dems, State Dept near resolution on Cuba money
By DONNA CASSATA and DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A top Senate Democrat is close to ending his hold on $20
million that the administration had ticketed for a program to promote
democracy in communist Cuba, a monthslong challenge to President Barack
Obama with possible ramifications for the 2012 election.

Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said Thursday he was
working with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International
Development on ensuring the effectiveness of the program to promote
human rights and basic freedoms. Established in 1996, the Cuba Program
has been beset with reports that some grantees misused funds and the
government provided little oversight.

His goal, Kerry said in an interview, was to make sure the "money is
well spent." He had blocked the distribution of the $20 million on April
1, arguing that the funds weren't helping the Cuban people and instead
were provoking the Raul Castro regime. He was joined by Sen. Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees
foreign aid, who also had serious concerns about the program's
mismanagement.

"Senator Kerry has been working with the State Department and USAID to
make sure these programs represent an effective use of taxpayer funds
and discussions remain focused on that objective," Kerry's office said
in a statement.

One of the outstanding issues is how the State Department will complete
a cost-analysis review of the spending in the program.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a member of the Foreign Relations panel, said
a resolution was imminent, likely within the week.

"There are some reporting requirements," Menendez said in an interview.
"In my mind these programs are totally transparent. USAID has been very
forthcoming, tons of information, probably more so than any other
program of democracy promotion in the world. But we're happy to do it
because we think the programs are both worthy and can stand on their own
two feet."

Transparency has been an issue in the standoff because the State
Department and USAID have not provided information on the program's
contracts requested by the Foreign Relations Committee, which has
oversight authority over the agencies.

The program and the dispute have exposed divisions within the
Cuban-American community, pushed several private congressional spats
into the public and stirred the political implications for Obama and
Democrats facing re-election next year. It also has revived the debate
over human rights in Cuba after more than a half century of control by
Fidel and Raul Castro.

In blocking the money in April, Kerry said he hoped the Cuban people
"achieve greater freedom and prosperity in the future consistent with
their aspirations. There is no evidence, however, that the 'democracy
promotion' programs, which have cost the U.S. taxpayer more than $150
million so far, are helping the Cuban people." He also cited the
imprisonment of Alan Gross, who was working on a USAID-funded
democracy-building program when he was arrested in December 2009.

On March 11, the Maryland man was sentenced to 15 years after being
convicted of illegally importing communications equipment. Cuba contends
he is a spy; the U.S. disputes that claim.

Kerry's action drew an unusual personal and public challenge from his
House counterpart - Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Havana-born
chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In June, she accused Kerry
of failing to understand what she called "the brutal nature of the
Havana tyranny."

Ros-Lehtinen held a news conference this past week with Reina Luisa
Tamayo, whose son was a Cuban dissident who died after an 83-day hunger
strike. Orlando Zapata Tamayo was 42 when he died on Feb. 23, 2010. He
had been in prison on charges that included disrespecting authority.

In an interview, Ros-Lehtinen said Congress "should do everything we can
to make sure the program and the aid get to the people. We can improve
it. How not to improve it is by freezing the program."

Cuban-born Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J., a proponent of the program and a
member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said he backed Kerry's bid for
the president in 2004.

"To say I'm disappointed in Kerry is an understatement," said Sires, who
added: "This is democracy building. We just gave Egypt $65 million for
society building and so forth. Why can't we do it in Cuba."

Sires and Menendez face re-election next year in New Jersey, home to
more than 80,000 Cuban-Americans.

Many of the democracy programs are based in Florida, which Obama won by
a margin of 2.8 percentage points in 2008 over Republican John McCain.
In prevailing in the state, the Democrat captured a solid 47 percent of
the Cuban-American vote, and any erosion of support could impact the
outcome in 2012.

In Florida, Carlos Saladrigas, co-chair of the business-backed Cuba
Study Group, which does not receive U.S. funds, said the federal
government should limit its program to helping support civil society,
just as it has done in other countries. He said it should not be in the
business of funding Cuban dissidents.

"Direct help to the dissident, that should come from the Cuban
community, brother-to-brother," he said. "They don't need that much money."

Saladrigas argues that too often the money in support of dissidents has
been spent outside of Cuba rather than to those on the island. He also
said the money has been used to advance different political agendas of
exile groups, sometimes sowing divisions among the very dissidents it
was supposed to help.

Pepe Hernandez, head of the Miami-based Cuban American National
Foundation, which has not taken U.S. funds in decades, said the
democracy funds were often ill-spent in the past and need to be better
monitored, but he opposed cutting the program altogether. He says
improvements have been made, including requiring more of the money to be
used inside the island.

Hernandez said his and other organizations have sought out dozens of
international foundations dedicated to strengthening democracies, but
very few want to work in Cuba.

"We can do some of this on our own, but you don't do this kind of work
with (just) hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. "That's very
limiting. If you have a government program with $15 million, you can do
much more."

Associated Press writer Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami contributed to this
report.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/14/v-fullstory/2314485/dems-state-dept-near-resolution.html

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