The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, requested $20 million for Cuba programs in fiscal 2012, which begins Oct. 1, 2011. The agency says its goals include managing the programs more transparently, ensuring that more economic and material support reaches the island and trying to assist a wider range of civic groups in Cuba. [...]
Florida lawmaker criticizes USAID budget increases
Budget increases at the U.S Agency for International Development are “just not feasible” in light of continued trouble in the U.S. economy, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., testified Wednesday. The agency’s budget rose by 147 percent from 2001 to 2010, and 57 percent from 2008 to 2010, said Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the U.S. House Committee on [...]
Cuban companies snag $1-million-plus in U.S. funds
The U.S. government has spent nearly $1 billion in Cuba since 2000. More than $1 million went directly to Cuban government-operated companies, but most of the American tax dollars were spent at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, or Gitmo, where detainees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are kept. These U.S. government expenses, found at [...]
U.S. seeks additional $4 million for Cuba operations
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana would receive $11,741,000 in fiscal 2012 under the proposed federal budget. That is a 34.4 percent increase over its budget of $8,735,000 in fiscal 2011, which ends in September 2011. The State Department’s Office of Cuban Affairs would receive $3,608,000 under the 2012 budget. That is a 42.8 percent [...]