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USAID Cuba Program
Goal: To hasten the peaceful transition
to democracy in Cuba.
Strategic Objective: To help build civil
society by increasing the flow of accurate information on
democracy, human rights, and free enterprise to, from, and
within Cuba.
Major Mission Elements:
1. Building Solidarity with Cuba's Human Rights Activists
- Center for a Free Cuba - Publishes reports of human
rights violations, disseminates writings of Cuban activists,
sponsors visits to Cuba by human rights monitors, and distributes
pro-democracy literature inside Cuba.
- Freedom House - Sponsors visits to Cuba by human rights
monitors, helps develop civic and political leadership in Cuba,
links independent Cuban organizations to one another and to
the outside world.
- Freedom House Transitions Project - Published reports
of human rights violations, disseminated writings of Cuban activists,
sponsored visits to Cuba by human rights monitors and distributed
pro-democracy literature inside Cuba. (Completed project)
- Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia - Provides food, medicine,
and other humanitarian assistance to victims of repression inside
Cuba.
- Cuban Dissidence Task Group - Provided non-financial
material support to Cuba's human rights activists. (Completed
project)
- Accion Democratica Cubana - Provides food, medicine,
and other assistance to victims of repression.
- Institute for Democracy in Cuba - Provided food, medicine,
and other assistance to victims of repression. (Completed project)
- Plantados Until Freedom and Democracy in Cuba - Provides
humanitarian assistance to political prisoners and their families
in Cuba.
- International Republican Institute - Helps develop
international solidarity committees in Latin America and Europe
-- providing material, moral, and ideological support for Cuban
democratic activists.
- National Democratic Institute - Provides non-financial
support for Cuban democratic activists and promotes support
from the international community.
- Mississippi Consortium for International Development
- Helps develop Cuban human rights organizations through a new
Center for the Study of Afro-Cuban issues.
2. Giving Voice
to Cuba's Independent Journalists - CubaNet - Provides
comprehensive internet on-line coverage of Cuban issues by Cuba's
independent journalists. (http://www.cubanet.org)
- Carta de Cuba - Publishes the reports of independent
journalists in hard copy magazine format circulated inside Cuba
and worldwide.
- Florida International University - Helps improve the
professional skills of Cuba's independent journalists, through
correspondence courses.
- Cuba Free Press - Disseminated reports by Cuba's independent
journalists. (Completed project)
3. Helping Develop Independent
Cuban NGOs - ACDI - VOCA - Sought to develop independent
agricultural cooperatives in Cuba. (Completed project)
- Pan American Development Foundation - Provides support
to independent libraries and independent non-governmental organizations
training Cuban entrepreneurs.
- Partners of the Americas - Provided training and non-financial
material support to independent organizations inside Cuba. (Completed
project)
- Loyola University Chicago - Develops social service
capability of independent Cuban NGOs.
- Jackson State University - Helps develop Cuba's independent
libraries.
- Florida International University and Evangelical Christian
Outreach Developed a manual for the care of the elderly and
distributed it to faith-based organizations inside Cuba. (Completed
project)
4. Defending the Rights of Cuban Workers
- Federacion Sindical de Plantas Electricas, Gas y Agua -
Helps develop independent Cuban labor unions and informs the
international community concerning the violation of workers'
rights in Cuba.
- National Policy Association - Encouraged international
private sector firms to promote the protection of workers' rights
in Cuba. (Completed project)
- ACILS: American Center for International Labor Solidarity
- Brought to the attention of the world community the Cuban
government's violation of labor rights. (Completed project)
5. Providing Direct Outreach to the Cuban People -
University of Miami: Developing Civil Society - Provided thousands
of short-wave radios to the Cuban people. (Completed project)
- Cuba On-Line - Sends 100,000 newsletters a month to
Cuban households and individuals concerning democracy, human
rights and free market economics.
- SABRE Foundation - Provided books and other informational
materials to the Cuban people. (Completed project)
6. Planning
for Transition - University of Miami Cuba Transition
Project - Analyzes challenges that will face a future transition
government in Cuba, including:
- Establishing Democratic Institutions, Respect for Human
Rights, and the Rule of Law
- Creating the Core Institutions of a Free Economy
- Modernizing Infrastructure
- Meeting Basic Needs in the Areas of Health Education,
Housing, and Human Services
- Georgetown University Cuba Scholarship Program - Offers
scholarships for two year technical training in U.S. community
colleges to the families of political prisoners and other Cuban
students and professionals seeking to build independent civil
institutions inside Cuba.
- Creighton University School of Law - Will study property
confiscation/restitution issues in other transition countries
to develop lessons learned for the Cuba transition.
- U.S. - Cuba Business Council - Developed studies and
conferences to explore U.S. private sector plans for assisting
in Cuba's future free-market development. (Completed project)
- International Foundation for Election Systems - Developed
a manual to assist the organization and implementation of free
and fair multi-party elections during the transition to democracy
in Cuba. (Completed project)
- Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, - Developed
conferences to explore issues related to the transition to democracy
in Cuba, drawing on lessons learned from transitions elsewhere.
(Completed project)
7. Evaluation - University
of Florida - Surveyed recent Cuban emigrants to establish a
baseline on knowledge, attitudes, and access to accurate information
concerning democracy, human rights, and free enterprise. (Completed
project)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers - Carried out a comprehensive,
independent, contract evaluation of the USAID Cuba Program.
(Completed project)
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