Thursday, February 9, 2012

Setting record straight on a program to help Cuba

Posted on Wednesday, 02.08.12

USAID

Setting record straight on a program to help Cuba

BY ORLANDO GUTIERREZ-BARONAT
Orlando@directorio.org

Totalitarian regimes and their apologists have turned the manipulation
of facts and the distortion of reality into a science. Dictatorships
believe that political power flows from moral power, therefore character
assassination of their opponents is imperative.

That's why the Castro regime has launched diverse campaigns to taint
those who stand up for the rights of the Cuban people. Regrettably, some
in the pro-democracy movement echo these regime "lines," focusing on the
supposed ineffectiveness of federal aid to the Cuban resistance.

Let's set the facts straight:

A nonviolent grassroots pro-democracy movement with the potential to
transform the tragedy of Cuban politics has risen to challenge the most
repressive, brutal and media-savvy tyranny in the history of Latin
America. In this, the Cuban resistance is no different from other
liberation movements, such as Washington's Continental Army, De Gaulle's
Free French or Walesa's Solidarity, all of which needed foreign
assistance to confront dictatorships that far surpassed them in material
power.

The truth is that the Cuban people are up against a totalitarian state
that cannot run an economy and improve the livelihood of the nation but
is excruciatingly adept at holding on to power. American aid — from the
world's foremost democracy — has been indispensable in allowing the
Cuban resistance to have a permanent support infrastructure.

This support is indispensable in empowering the Cuban people to counter,
even in a limited manner, the enormous resources channeled by the
Castro-Chávez axis to perpetuate their oppression.

The historical experience of freedom struggles has demonstrated that
foreign assistance is essential in three key areas: providing captive
populations with uncensored and objective information, enabling
international solidarity that provides dissidents with a network of
associations that elevate the political cost of repression, and
channeling direct logistical aid to resistance activists.

Because we disagreed with past policies of USAID (U.S. Agency for
International Development) regarding direct assistance to activists
living on the island, the Cuban Democratic Directorate ( Directorio),
chose to concentrate its efforts under federal grant funds to transmit
uncensored information and provide international solidarity to the Cuban
freedom movement. Direct assistance has been raised privately and
fundamentally within the Cuban-American community.

Radio República, the Directorate's 24-hour, seven-day-a-week shortwave
radio station, has provided a voice to Cuba's resistance from the
smallest provincial towns to the largest Havana neighborhoods. Its
format has been strategically designed to enhance the natural
self-defense mechanism of nonviolent struggle generated by Cuban
society. Costing between $1.5 million to $2 million a year, Radio
República's budget accounts for over 50 percent of the Directorate's
annual funds from federal grants. These costs are far below the annual
budgets of both public and commercial shortwave radio stations.

Likewise, it is undeniable that Directorio has made a vital contribution
to the changing attitudes of the international community towards the
Castro regime. The Cuban pro-democracy leadership has moved from
international neglect to international recognition, winning prestigious
awards like the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize and nominations for
the Nobel Peace Prize in the process.

Reality belies the propaganda efforts. Cuba's resistance has gone from
minuscule dissident groups to a broad popular effort that defies
repression on the streets. The Castro regime attacks Directorio
constantly in print and electronic media precisely for its effectiveness
in contributing to the organic growth of Cuba's resistance.

The truth is that the testimony of hundreds of civic resistance leaders
throughout the island shows that Radio República has become an essential
tool for social organization. Independent financial audits by the GAO,
IRS and other agencies have yielded positive assessments of the
organization's internal controls and the compliance of its programs with
grant objectives.

From dissidence to resistance, the Cuban people have gone through
incremental stages in their drive toward freedom. They must not be
alone. American aid is a necessity, not a luxury, just as it has been
for almost every other liberation struggle in the world for the past two
centuries.

Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat is national secretary of the Cuban Democratic
Directorate.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/08/2631767/setting-record-straight-on-a-program.html#storylink=misearch

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