Obama’s USAID Programs in Cuba Aimed to Start Rebellion

HIV Prevention a 'Perfect Excuse' for Regime Change

We already covered USAID’s frittering away of $1.6 million creating and then abandoning a “Cuban Twitter,” which aimed to fuel political unrest on the Caribbean island nation. That was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Obama Administration also had a long-standing policy beginning in 2009 of sending young Latin Americans to Cuba under the guise of health and humanitarian programs, while secretly being ordered to foment rebellion against the Cuban government.

Some posed as tourists, some posed as aid workers. One of the memos related to the scheme dubbed an HIV-prevention workshop a “perfect excuse” for the US to send workers to undermine the Castro government.

Despite the operations being completely contrary to the nominal mission of USAID, the agency remains defiant about such fiascos, insisting they consider regime change in Cuba to count as “aid.”

But while the Cuban Twitter program was mostly just an embarrassment, this revelation could be more far-reaching, inevitably leading other nations targeted by the $3 billion Obama Administration HIV program to ask whether the program is about HIV, or simply an excuse to stir up unrest.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.