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7-26-08, 10:24 am
With the recognition that the Cuban-American mafia has been diverting funds for the U.S. government’s annexationist plans for Cuba for years now, Congress froze $45 million of funds allocated this year to the US Agency for International Development Cuba (USAID) Cuba program… only to subsequently bend to White House promises and unfreeze a large part of them.
In its Tuesday edition, The Miami Herald revealed how Congressman Howard Berman, (Democrat, California), ordered the freezing of the funds last month, partly in response to a $500,000 embezzlement in the Washington Center for a Free Cuba, which came to light earlier this year.
However, under pressure from the White House and USAID itself, plus promises that the cases of fraud would be investigated, Berman announced that the funds would immediately be unfrozen.
Berman says that the State Department assured him that it understood the gravity of the problems, and was acting to correct them, and convinced him that the money should be freed up, with the exception that none of it will be handed over to program participants under investigation.
According to CBS, the Center for a Free Cuba, run by CIA agent Frank Calzon, in which $500,000 vanished, and the so-called Democracy Support Group of swindler Frank Trujillo, will not be granted any further USAID credits until the irregularities are cleared up.
Francis Robles’ Herald article, datelined July 22, states that, the previous Friday, USAID promised an in-depth review of its programs for Cuba and suspended one Miami anti-Castro group that spent at least $11,000 of federal funds on personal items.
At the end of 2006, an audit by the General Accountability Office of USAID’s anti-Cuban activities reported certain tacky purchases by Miami "fighters" – including Trujillo – contracted by USAID to preach its version of democracy for Cuba: cashmere sweaters, Godiva chocolates, Nintendo games and Sony play stations supposedly destined for the staff of agents working for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
Translated by Granma International
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