Incoming Secretary of State John Kerry vowed earlier this month to boost U.S. engagement abroad as a way to “prevent conflict and prevent failed states.” In a Feb. 15 speech to employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, he said: This challenge deserves more focus and more attention, not less. This is not a [...]
December roundup
Jailed contractor Alan Gross asked the U.S. government to sign a “non-belligerency pact” with Cuba as a first step toward negotiating his release, according to a Cuba specialist who met with the American development worker. Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba expert at the National Security Archives, a nonprofit research center in Washington, D.C., met with Gross [...]
State Department denies fee waiver
This is the letter that the State Department sent me denying a fee waiver customarily granted to journalists. I appealed the denial. Download my letter in English and in Spanish. See fee waiver information sheet on the jump page.
June roundup
The U.S. government plans to expand efforts to help Cubans use cell phones, the Internet and other tools of digital technology to promote democratic change, according to a June 28 notice. The State Department is offering two contracts of up to $3 million each to organizations interested in helping to implement the department’s digital democracy [...]
FOIA requests: Same slow tune
Over the past year, I have filed more than 100 Freedom of Information Act requests to try to learn more about what becomes of millions of tax dollars that go toward democracy programs in Cuba. I filed most of the FOIA requests in October 2011. They went to the U.S. Agency for International Development and [...]
D.C. lawyer: Cuba programs should be classified
“Political voyeurism” of U.S. democracy programs in Cuba has hurt efforts to promote a transition to democracy on the island, a Washington, D.C., lawyer said Monday. Information about USAID programs in Cuba should be classified, Jason Poblete wrote on his blog, The Poblete D.C. Dispatches. Even program summaries should be shielded from public view, he [...]