Cuban-American Leaders Helped "Cuban Twitter"
Cuban-American Leaders Helped "Cuban Twitter"
AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini comments on the revelations linking a group of non-profit Cuban-American leaders to a social media initiative in the island.
MIAMI (AP) — Leaders with the largest nonprofit organization for young Cuban-Americans quietly provided strategic support for the federal government's secret "Cuban Twitter" program, connecting contractors with potential investors and even serving as paid consultants, The Associated Press has learned....
Chris Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, said he wasn't surprised that Roots of Hope's leaders had been approached by U.S. Agency for International Development contractors about the ZunZuneo project, given the large sums of money USAID has available and the limited number of creative, tech-savvy groups that work on Cuba issues.
"I think it does risk tainting the group, a group that I think has done amazing work and changed the discussion and mobilized a new generation toward a much more pragmatic agenda," Sabatini said.
It also comes at a sensitive time; the nonprofit is looking to help Sanchez develop a new independent media project in Cuba. Links to the USAID program could make that prospect more difficult, as the Cuban government views the Twitter-like endeavor as yet another U.S. effort to undermine its communist system. Sanchez herself has also been adamant in not accepting any government funding....
