-->La Habana, 23 de marzo de 2011. — El gobierno estadounidense financi贸 a la organizaci贸n no gubernamental Solidaridad Espa帽ola con Cuba (SEC) para formar a grupos opositores al gobierno cubano en el uso de nuevas tecnolog铆as tras el paso de los huracanes Gustav e Ike.
Entre el 15 de septiembre de 2008 y el 31 de diciembre de 2009, bajo el manto de acciones humanitarias, la onG espa帽ola recibi贸 615.500 d贸lares del norteamericano Instituto Republicano Internacional, seg煤n publica la web de la organizaci贸n conservadora.
La entidad espa帽ola, apenas conocida y con escas铆sima membres铆a, tuvo como misi贸n la capacitaci贸n t茅cnica en el uso de comunicaciones e incrementar el apoyo internacional a las acciones en la calle.
En aquel momento los huracanes dejaron un panorama en la isla de viviendas arrasadas, afectaciones en la producci贸n econ贸mica y a la generaci贸n de alimentos para la poblaci贸n.
Aquel contexto que puso al pa铆s en una dif铆cil situaci贸n fue considerado por los analistas norteamericanos como favorable a sus intereses ante el posible descontento popular contra el gobierno cubano.
La entidad presidida por Ricardo Carreras, experto en comunicaci贸n pol铆tica, cre贸 a instancias del estadounidense Instituto Republicano Internacional la campa帽a “la solidaridad de viaje” para realizar visitas a la oposici贸n cubana.
La SEC financi贸 viajes para determinar en el terreno las necesidades operativas que pudieran tener estos grupos opositores y evaluar su nivel de desarrollo y estructura.
Estos viajes tambi茅n sirvieron para identificar nuevos potenciales sujetos pol铆ticos y determinar sus necesidades de apoyo para maximizar el impacto internacional de sus actos p煤blicos.
Los grupos de la sociedad civil elegidos por Washington para trabajar en el pa铆s caribe帽o fueron los sindicalistas, los periodistas y especialmente las mujeres y los j贸venes, seg煤n detalla el programa del proyecto.
La formaci贸n de estos grupos cont贸 con la entrega de equipos inform谩ticos y el apoyo a visibilizarlos en sus relaciones con la prensa, la mejora de materiales de m谩rketing y su presencia online
El informe reconoce entre algunos de los problemas de estos grupos la falta de organizaci贸n y objetivos claros en sus acciones, al igual que el desconocimiento de la poblaci贸n cubana sobre su existencia.
En 14 viajes, aparentemente tur铆sticos, los organizadores programaron la entrega a grupos opositores de 15 ordenadores port谩tiles, 22 videoc谩maras y 22 c谩maras fotogr谩ficas.
Tras alguno de estos viajes la onG con sede en Zaragoza public贸 el libro “Hablan las Damas" de las periodistas Mar铆a 脕ngeles Altozano y Rosa Mar铆a Espinosa, compuesto por entrevistas a miembros de las Damas de Blanco.
La huella de la USAID
Estados Unidos en su estrategia contra el gobierno cubano considera como factor decisivo para el cambio pol铆tico en el pa铆s, el relevo generacional de la direcci贸n hist贸rica de la Revoluci贸n.
Los analistas estadounidenses consideran vital situar a los grupos creados por ellos en buena posici贸n ante el miedo que en esa Cuba post comunista escalen a los puestos claves de la Administraci贸n los actuales cuadros intermedios.
El Instituto Republicano Internacional recibi贸 el 27 de agosto de 2008 de la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID) un contrato de dos millones de d贸lares para la aceleraci贸n de la transici贸n a la democracia en Cuba. Un a帽o despu茅s increment贸 la financiaci贸n por un valor de medio mill贸n de d贸lares, seg煤n datos oficiales de la web gubernamental
http://www.usaspendig.gov/, la cual public贸 varios contratos de los programas de la USAID.
Ante el escaso 茅xito de estas operaciones contra Cuba, un diplom谩tico centroeuropeo, que por razones obvias quiere permanecer en el anonimato, en conversaci贸n con este peri贸dico se preguntaba ¿a d贸nde va el dinero? Las organizaciones que trabajan para la USAID han sido reiteradamente acusadas por el gobierno cubano de “fachadas” de la inteligencia norteamericana para operar en pa铆ses contrarios a la orientaci贸n pol铆tica de Washington.
Recientemente la justicia cubana conden贸 a 15 a帽os de prisi贸n al contratista estadounidense Alan Gross, por delitos contra la “independencia y la integridad del territorio” al ser sorprendido repartiendo entre la oposici贸n tel茅fonos satelitales y material inform谩tico.
PROGRAMA DEL IRI A TRAV脡S DE SOLIDARIDAD ESPA脩OLA CON CUBA.
Attachment A – Program Description
CUBA
Foreign Sub recipient: Solidaridad Espa帽ola con Cuba Dates of Project: September 15, 2008, December 31, 2009 Amount Requested: $615,500
I. SUMMARY
Together IRI and Solidaridad Espa帽ola con Cuba (SEC) will implement support activities designed to refine and expand the pro-democracy movement within Cuba, as well as independent Cuban civil society, under these new circumstances. With that purpose, we will design, develop and implement demand-driven, targeted training to several opposition and civil society groups -women, youth, trade union and journalists-, to enhance their skills and capacities. We will also increase their IT capacities by delivering IT equipment to them and instructing them how to use it. Finally, we will also increase their internal and external outreach and visibility by supporting their press relations, improving their marketing materials and enhancing their online presence.
II. BACKGROUND
Cuba has been suffering the totalitarian rule of charismatic dictator Fidel Castro for almost fifty years, since the triumph of the revolution in 1959. As such, it is a non-democratic exception within the community of democratic countries of Hispanic culture. This anomaly is explained by complex factors, such as the historic support of the Soviet Union, but after five decades, it may end soon. The regime is a personal dictatorship. Therefore, the approaching death of the ailing dictator is expected to be a major catalyst of change. His brother Ra煤l lacks his charismatic legitimacy.
Furthermore, the considerable damages caused by recent hurricanes Gustav and Ike put the country in a crisis situation. The government faces the daunting task of rebuilding thousands of houses destroyed by the hurricanes. Let us remember that housing was already a considerable problem in Cuba before these natural disasters. In addition, the hurricanes have also devastated a large number of crop fields and affected the tobacco production process. Thus, it has further reduced the capacity of the government to feed the Cuban population and generate income abroad. The regime is arguably at is weakest point in history, because it as facing a permanent crisis without a charismatic leader to solve it.
In this favourable context, the Cuban opposition needs to be prepared to promote real changes that gear the country towards a functioning market economy and a working democracy. once these changes do happen, Cuban civil society groups needs to make sure they play a role in a new, viable, democratic system, instead of being left out by a new oligarchy of post-communists barons that rule over an authoritarian post-communist regime, as has been the case in some of the successor countries of the former Soviet Union.
So far, we have concentrated previous support activities in assisting two groups:
Womens Group We have been supporting and training one particular women group with very good results. Their recent progress has been impressive. They are already at an advanced level of development, with a clear identity, the tools and knowledge to move ahead and a concrete and successful campaign. We will continue to support this group and will identify any emerging women groups potentially suited for training, because women have been traditionally underrepresented in the Cuban opposition and it is important to integrate them as a key element of the opposition and civil society.
Youth Groups Youth is often the dominant component of pro-democracy movements. This was the case in Serbia, with the Otpor -resistance- movement, as well as Georgia, Ukraine and Lebanon. Recent and reliable studies on Cuban public opinion show that Cuban youth are particularly disaffected with the Communist dictatorship. Young Cubans support change and democracy even more than the average. Paradoxically, though, young Cubans are currently underrepresented in the opposition. It is logical then to think that Cuban opposition groups made of youth and targeting the youth have a lot of growth potential.
We have supported in the past one youth group. This group has a clear identity and is developing the tools and knowledge required to advance their objectives. They still lack a clear focus and a well-defined campaign.
We have identified another youth group that has the potential to become a partner. We will explore the possibility of supporting this second group also and identify any emerging youth group with potential for cooperation.
Equally, independent journalists and related groups are the future journalists of a free Cuba and should not be neglected. They already play a significant role denouncing human rights violations and government abuses against Cubans. Finally, independent trade union activists have a large potential for growth and are the future trade union leaders of a free Cuba.
Nonetheless, all these groups share considerable problems: some of them lack a clear identity, purpose and objectives, many lack organizational and technical skills and capacities as well as basic IT equipment. Most of them lack a clear, well focused campaign and are still relatively unknown in Cuba and abroad.
III. SUBGRANT OBJECTIVES The objectives of the Subgrant are:
1) To strengthen supported groups and help them reach a more advanced stage of development by improving their motivation, efficiency, strategic focus; social research and message delivery capacities; political communications, mobilization, organizational and technical skills as well as their internal and external impact and outreach
2) To increase their access to communications technologies as well as their technical capacity to use them
3) To increase the salience and visibility domestically and abroad of supported pro-democracy groups
IV. SUBGRANT ACTIVITIES
1) ASSESSMENT
1.1) Assessment trips
1.2) To identify new partner groups and their needs:
Journalism/Human Rights Reporting Trade Unions Bloggers
In addition to these areas, we will also seek to identify emerging groups that are in a very early stage of development but have the potential of becoming relevant in the opposition or civil society. We will also explore potential niches for the possibility of contributing to the creation of completely new groups.
2) TRAINING
2.1) Training using existing training fields 2.2) Development of additional training fields/training materials
2.3) Selection and preparation of trainers and trips 2.4) Training trips 2.5) Briefing, debriefing and reports
3) IT EQUIPMENT DELIVERY We will also make sure support equipment reaches the supported groups. We intend to deliver to them fifteen (15) laptop computers, twenty-two (22) video cameras and twenty-two (22) digital cameras
IT Equipment Delivery Trips For that purpose, we will coordinate a total of fourteen (14) IT equipment delivery trips. Seven of them (7) will consist of trips of two people and other seven (7) will consist of trips of individuals.
VI. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Solidaridad Espa帽ola con Cuba (SEC) is a non-profit NGO founded in early 2005 by a group of young Spaniards with the purpose of supporting Cuban democracy activists, political prisoners and their families, as well as the emerging Cuban civil society. Since its foundation, Solidaridad Espa帽ola con Cuba has actively supported several democracy groups in the island.
Training and support Together with IRI, SEC has successfully undertaken several training activities in the closed society. SEC has been supporting two groups of the Cuban opposition/civil society -one women group and one youth group- providing them targeted, demand-driven training. Training fields have included political research training -polls-, message delivery and communications training, journalist skills training and economic training.
SEC developed specific, targeted training materials for these trainings. They are state-of-the-art quality documents and also take into consideration the particular circumstances of the closed society. The trainings were highly successful and often had considerable impact. They increased the capacities and skills of the supported groups and had very positive repercussions.
IT equipment In addition to training, throughout time, SEC has also successfully delivered a considerable amount of IT equipment to these two supported groups. In the past we have also delivered support material to other networks.
Other activities SEC successfully launched in 2006 a full-fledged “solidarity travel” marketing campaign encouraging people that travel to Cuba to add a solidarity dimension to their visits by supporting the Cuban opposition, political prisoners and civil society. The campaign received a considerable amount of coverage by the international and Spanish media. It included the publication of the innovative book Solidarity Guide of Cuba. This book has been translated into English, French, Polish, German and Italian, by different NGOs and organizations that are distributing it. Tens of thousands of people have downloaded it for free in the different versions -over 20,000 just in Spanish. As a continuation of this campaign, SEC has recently launched several websites that provide information about Cuban opposition and political prisoners, but also simultaneously provide general information about Cuba -which attracts web surfers.
The NGO especially supports in different ways the group of Cuban political prisoners Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) in different ways, including the management and updating of their official website
http://www.damasdeblanco.com/ -which was created by SEC.
Executive Board and Staff SEC’s Executive Board is comprised of a President (Ricardo Carreras Lario), a Vicepresident (Juan Fauquier), a Secretary/Treasurer (Fernando Mart铆nez), and Executive Board Members (Fernando Terr贸n and Carlos Vidal). In order to maintain SEC’s politically neutral position, board members include businessmen, professors, and independent consultants who are not affiliated with any political parties.
The President of SEC, Ricardo Carreras is an expert in political communication. He is a professor at the Universidad Complutense and the President of a consulting firm. He will be the executive director of all program activities and will dedicate half of his working time to the Subgrant, including general oversight and trips to third countries. Other members of the Board will assist with conceptualizing and planning program activities to ensure they are in line with the organization’s main goals and objectives.
SEC staff members include Mar铆a 脕ngeles Altozano and Mar铆a Rosa Espinosa, both experienced journalists. They work at the Communications department. Their responsibilities include activities described in 2) and 4), including the development of training material and support activities such as writing of press releases and updating web content. Mar铆a works at the Madrid office and Mar铆a Rosa at the Saragossa office.
In addition, for the purpose of the Subgrant, we are intending to hire from the beginning a Program Assistant. She/He will work between 75% and 100% of his/her time in activities related with the Subgrant. He or she will assist preparing the financial and narrative reporting related with the Subgrant. She/He will also work in the accounting/administrative areas. She/he is likely to be at the Saragossa office. We intend to hire one intern to work 100% in activities related with the Subgrant, assisting in different areas.
From its foundation, SEC headquarters are in the Spanish city of Saragossa (Zaragoza), the home city of SEC President. SEC has here a large number of members. Nonetheless, media outlets, Cuba-related associations and contacts as well as potential trainers are concentrated in Madrid. For that reason, SEC opened a small office in Madrid early this year. It is important, to maximize the efficiency of the support to the partner groups, to keep both small offices in Saragossa and Madrid. Fuente:
http://www.larepublica.es/spip.php?article23661