NED - National Endowment for Democracy
www.ned.org
www.facebook.com/National.Endowment.for.Democracy

"Together with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy has functioned as an instrument of the U.S. government’s democratization strategy over the past two decades. Whereas USAID is an agency of the State Department, quasi-governmental NED is organized as a nonprofit but funded almost entirely by the U.S. government. Since 1982, when President Reagan launched what he called a “crusade” to foster “free market democracies” and spread the a neoliberal version of the “magic of the marketplace,” both USAID and NED have channeled U.S. government development and public diplomacy funding into the democratization programs of the international institutes of the Republican and Democratic Parties, the AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as a wide range of institutes, political parties, and nongovernmental organizations abroad." -- From World Movement for Democracy-Made in the USA 7/28/2009 Political Research Associates

Particularly instructive are the NED activities in Haiti, where NED funding was viciously used to promote the elite and the military against the population. The articles below are sorted by country and include a section on Haiti, as well as on Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela, where NED has openly supported groups involved in coups.

NED is a typical Washington move that creates blowback into the US media discourse. They fund dissidents in Cuba who advocate the overthrow of the government rather than the many domestic critics who choose to work within the system and who do not have the resources to maintain much of an online presence, an expensive item in Cuba due to the embargo. The press and politicians believe the materials NED produces and so continue living in the bubble NED helps them create.

NED has its roots in the CIA's Operation Mockingbird (aka 'the Mighty Wurlitzer') in the 1950s which sought to counter Soviet propaganda with US propaganda, not a feat one could be proud of. The Mighty Wurlitzer was constantly being exposed in the alternative US media, so NED was created as a solution to these embarassements. For a cogent history, see Terrorism and Civil Society as Instruments of US Policy in Cuba 8/8/2003 Counterpunch: by Philip Agee.

With the CIA's accusation in December of 2016 pointing to the Russians as having acted to win the election for Trump, Americans have an opportunity to understand how it feels to be on the receiving end of NED type operations.

Some of our research on NED/USAID funding of anti-Castro organizations

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2018-2019 - has NED funding lists for Cuba for 2019

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2016-2017 - has NED funding lists for Cuba for 2017

USAID/NED/State Department Companies
running projects in post December 2014 Cuba

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2014-2015 - has NED funding lists for Cuba

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2011-2013 - has NED funding lists for Cuba

A Worldwide Battle of Life and Death, Parts I, II, and III Alberto Jones, 12/25/09

Una Batalla Mundial de Vida o Muerte, I, II, y III, 25/12/09

Invoking MLK and Rosa Parks in Cuban Exile Politics, Claude Betancourt, 5/30/09: Brothers to the Rescue, Florida's MLK Institute for Nonviolence, and manipulating Cuban dissidents.

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2008-2010 - has NED funding lists for Cuba

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2007 - has NED funding lists for Cuba

Cuban American business and terrorism, 2005

Funding Dissidents: 2002

Funding Dissidents: 2001

Dissidents and Race, 2001

Funding Dissidents: 2000 and before

Articles

Colombia

Andreiza y Afrocolombia reciben reconocimiento de USAID  11/12/2014 Señal Radio Colombia: "Nuestra compañera Andreiza Anaya y el equipo de Afrocolombia, recibieron el galardón "Medios para la Inclusión" al Mejor programa radial, un reconocimiento del Programa para Afrodescendientes e Indígenas de la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID)."

Integrating Afrodescendants in Colombia’s Post-Conflict Democracy  9/23/2014 Democracy Digest: "The International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy cordially invites you to a presentation entitled “From Internal Displacement to Inclusive Democracy: The Afro-Colombian Experience” featuring Marino Córdoba Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy"

NED Annual Report 2012 Colombia  6/1/2013 NED: "Asociacion de Afrocolombianos Desplazados, $42,000. To defend the rights and promote greater attention to the needs of displaced Afro-Colombians. AFRODES will monitor the implementation of Colombia's "Victims' Law" and provide recommendations based on the concerns of displaced Afro-Colombian communities throughout the country. AFRODES will also brief members of its national network about new procedures to seek reparations and the restitution of lands under the Victims' Law."

NED Annual Report 2011 Colombia  6/1/2012 NED: "Corporación Manos Visibles, $40,000. To strengthen the leadership capacity of Afro-Colombian women in the City of Cartagena and the Department of Bolivar. Manos Visibles will engage Afro-Colombian women currently holding leadership positions in civil society organizations, local or regional government, or community groups, and provide them with advanced leadership training to increase their potential to promote greater social, political and economic development in their communities."

Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Program  3/31/2012 USAID: "Through Cooperative Agreement No. AID-514-A-11-00004, dated August 30, 2011, ACDI/VOCA was awarded the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Program (the Program) with a five-year life of project (LOP) from August 30, 2011 through August 29, 2016. While the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Colombia has been working with ethnic minorities for over a decade through its various sectoral programs, this is the first time that a stand-alone program has been developed for the sole purpose of improving the lives of Afro-Colombian and indigenous persons. The purpose of this $61.4 million program is to improve the socioeconomic status of Afro-Colombian and indigenous persons in target areas of Colombia."

Two Colombian Generals Face Charges  6/8/2009 Consortium News: "In July, 2003, just before Urapalma's USAID application, Colombia's national daily El Tiempo reported that "the African palm projects in the southern banana region of Uraba are dripping with blood, misery, and corruption." The region is where Urapalma is active. The Nation article goes on to report that in 2003, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights singled out Urapalma for collusion with paramilitaries in these words: "Since 2001, the company Urapalma SA has initiated cultivation of the oil palm on approximately 1,500 hectares of the collective land of these communities, with the help of 'the perimetric and concentric armed protection of the Army's Seventeenth Brigade and armed civilians'", i.e., paras. All of the above, of course, has gone on by fleecing American taxpayers, courtesy of SOA and USAID."

Why Afro-Colombians Oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement  2/29/2008 AfroCubaWeb: by Marino Cordoba, founder of the Association of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) - "Colombia, South America is an important for African North Americans and other allies. Afro-Colombians comprise almost 40% of the Colombian population of around 42 million people. These Afro-Colombians are treated brutally by the Government and the Euro-Colombians. Now, the Colombian President Uribe needs the support of the Congressional Black Caucus to pass the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. So he accepts the proposal of some Afro-Colombians to create this phony Commission for the Protection of the 16 million Afro-Colombians. More than a million Afro-Colombians have been displaced from their homes and communities. Afro-Colombians are killed and forced into exile if they resist the sale their land. The Colombian government provides very few services and infrastructure for the Afro-Colombian community and Law 70 that gives Afro-Colombian rights to their ancestral lands is not implemented and the para-militaries under President Uribe is driving the Afro-Colombians from their land. Congressional Black Caucus member Gregory Meeks of New York and member of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) deceived Congressman Bobby Rush of Chicago and caused him to write a letter of support for the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and have it signed by members of the Congressional Black Caucus."

Cuba

La NED sí tiene quien le escriba  1/12/2021 Cubadebate

Los ideólogos del golpe blando: Open Society en Cuba y la articulación contrarrevolucionaria  1/5/2021 Cubadebate

Cuba’s San Isidro movement an ‘awakening of civil society’  12/10/2020 Democracy Digest, NED: "In another era, the detention of a young Cuban dissident may have gone completely unnoticed. But when the rapper Denis Solís (below) was arrested by the police, he did something that has only recently become possible on the island: He filmed the encounter on his cellphone and streamed it live on Facebook, the Times reports: The stream last month prompted his friends in an artist collective to go on a hunger strike, which the police broke up after a week, arresting members of the group. But their detentions were also caught on cellphone videos and shared widely over social media, leading hundreds of artists and intellectuals to stage a demonstration outside the Culture Ministry the next day….The marches were small, but were among the first independently organized demonstrations on the island in decades."

EL PODER DE LA NED Y SUS LACAYOS…..  10/4/2020 Prometeo de Tréveris: "El amigo Karlito Marx Jung publico un excelente articulo que ha sido atacado hasta su eliminacion.... NEDgra Anticubana Elegiste Ser"

Fundación Nacional para la Democracia y Open Society Foundation. Parte II  8/3/2020 El Joven Cubano: por Karlito darx Jung - "No es posible evaluar un acontecimiento político adverso a escala mundial sin tomar en cuenta la incidencia de Open Society Foundation (OSF) y la Fundación Nacional para la Democracia (NED) y sus dueños o jefes, George Soros y Carl Gershman. Con oficinas en Estados Unidos -New York y Washington DC-, NED y OSF han liderado los más importantes procesos en Europa Oriental y América Latina en los últimos cuarenta años, haciendo emerger concepciones políticas a favor de los “incólumes” valores democráticos del capitalismo y sus clases hegemónicas."

Trump administration boosts NED spending for Cuba  5/9/2020 Cuba Money Project: "The National Endowment for Democracy reported spending $5,405,400 in Cuba grants in 2019. That was a 16 percent increase over 2018 and a 42 percent increase over 2017. The top recipients in 2019 were the Cuban Democratic Directorate with $650,000; Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), $305,726; Grupo Internacional para la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa en Cuba, $230,000; and Cubanet News Inc., $225,271; and Clovek v tísni o.p.s. (People in Need), $200,000."

¿Dólares “inocentes” a las ong´s para reventar Cuba desde adentro?  12/27/2017 tercera informacion: Se aplica al CIR, el Comite de Integracion Racial - "Uno de muchos ejemplos del aporte económico del NED (National Endowment for Democracy, La Fundación Nacional para la Democracia) para las organizaciones contrarevolucionarias cubanas, en este caso canalizado y facilitado por el funcionario de la OEA, el costarricense Carlos Quesada. Haz click para tamaño grande."

Will Trump Leave Cuba’s Dissidents without their Millions?  6/1/2017 Havana Times: de Fernando Ravsberg - "It is still too early to know if this budget will be approved but surely the internal and external anti-Castroites must be very concerned because all the organizations and many of the individuals that comprise them live off and make politics in Cuba and the US with those $20 million."

'Nos llaman negras payasas'. Damas de Blanco denuncian el racismo de las fuerzas represivas  3/28/2017 Diario de Cuba: [El tema del payaso en los muñequitos racistas de Cuba es bien largo. Las Damas son financiado por grupos de la plantocracia en el exilio que reciben dinero de la NED/USAID. Ellas apoyan el bloqueo, lo que no es muy popular en Cuba, aun con los disidentes. Ellas están ganando su dinero, es duro, pero asi es.

To the People of Cuba: Is Washington Preparing a “Soft Coup”? The Co-optation of Cuban Intellectuals  3/6/2017 Global Research: "Of significance, the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS) was actively involved in financing the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski in Venezuela in the 2012 elections. Its activities extended far beyond its endorsement of Caprile’s candidacy. In its quarterly report, the HSS openly acknowledges its dislike of the Bolivarian process. In this regard, the HSS was involved in organizing a number of anti-government conferences, largely with a view to upholding free market capitalism (neoliberalism) and smearing the Chavez government. The HSS was also used to create links with right wing parties including Copei and Primera Justicia."

¿Sigue la Guerra Fría cultural?  12/27/2016 Cubainformación: "Estados Unidos tiene una vasta experiencia en la práctica de la guerra cultural contra todo proyecto alternativo a su hegemonía en el escenario internacional. La CIA y la guerra fría cultural, de Frances Stonor Saunders, constituye un libro imprescindible –la investigación más completa sobre el tema- para comprender esta realidad.[i] Este libro demuestra cómo, en los años de la Guerra Fría, el programa de guerra psicológica y cultural de la CIA contra el campo socialista, fue su joya más preciada."

Cubans arrest U.S. human rights lawyer in Havana, activists say  12/17/2016 ABC 10 News: "When Motley was arrested, police officers also arrested punk rock artist Gorki Aguila and Luis Alberto Mariño, a political activist from the group Cuba Decides, according to the Human Rights Foundation."

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Request for Statements of Interest: Programs Fostering Civil, Political, and Labor Rights in Cuba  10/19/2016 State Department: Not NED, but the closely related State Department Bureau of Democracy.

Revelan proyectos financiados por NED en 2015 para subversión en Cuba  9/29/2016 Radio Sancti Spíritus: "El sitio Along the Malecón, del periodista Tracey Eaton, publicó este miércoles la lista de organizaciones que recibieron financiamientos por un valor total de casi 4 millones dólares para los programas de cambio de régimen en Cuba, a través de la organización gubernamental estadounidense National Endowment for Democracy (NED)."

NED's Cuba projects  9/27/2016 Along the Malecon: Provides 2015 budgeted amounts for Cuban dissident groups, including several focused on racial issues, the Cuban Soul Foundation ($85K), Plataforma de Integracion Cubana ($113K), and the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights ($26K). Other groups also participate in this theme.

Desde Bogotá: Conspiración contra Cuba  9/24/2016 Cubainformación: "Pero la misión humanitaria de la reunión, en realidad es una fachada. El evento fue organizado por el Instituto Raza, Equidad y Derechos Humanos, IRED, que fundó y dirige Carlos Quesada, un cubano-americano residente en Estados Unidos, que recibe copiosos recursos del Departamento de Estado y de las agencias norteamericanas de inteligencia, para adelantar programas anticubanos en el exterior, utilizando, consciente o inconscientemente, a organizaciones no gubernamentales diversas, para darle un ropaje de “sociedad civil” a lo que en realidad es una conspiración contra la revolución socialista en Cuba."

NED, the Legal Window of the CIA  8/18/2016 Cuba Si: "Furthermore, although NED is an association under US law, it is not a tool of the CIA alone, but an instrument shared with British services (which is why Reagan announced its creation in London) and the Australian services. This key point is often glossed over without comment. However, it is validated by messages of congratulations by Prime Ministers Tony Blair and John Howard during the 20th anniversary of the so-called “NGO”. NED and its tentacles are organs of an Anglo-Saxon military pact linking London, Washington and Canberra; the same goes for Echelon, the electronic interception network. This provision can be required not only by the CIA but also by the British MI6 and the Australian ASIS."

Una beca, un pretexto  6/10/2016 Cubadebate: "Se percataron que la “cuestión” es realizar “actividades dirigidas a posibilitar a un movimiento de resistencia”5 Y esto no es más que la definición estadounidense de Guerra no Convencional (GNC). De forma explícita, el propósito del programa dice: “fomentar una nueva generación de líderes de la sociedad civil, quienes poseerán las habilidades y conocimientos para profesionalizar la base de la sociedad civil de Cuba. Este grupo de jóvenes profesionales modelará la dirección efectiva de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil que son responsables ante el público, promoverán la participación de la comunidad, apoyarán la diversidad, y otros principios democráticos en Cuba”"

Human Rights and Race in Cuba/Derechos Humanos y Raza en Cuba  6/9/2016 American University: "Speakers: Carlos Quesada, Executive Director, Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights/Director Ejecutivo, Instituto sobre Raza, Igualidad y Derechos Humanos, Washington, D.C. Laritza Diversent Cambara, Director, Cubalex/Directora, Cubalex, Habana, Cuba Judith Morrison , Senior Advisor, Social Development, Gender and Diversity Division, Inter-American Development Bank/Asesora Senior, Desarrollo Social, División de Genero y Diversidad, Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, Washington, D.C. (Invited/Invitada)"

Cuban Human Rights Defenders Report on Rights Violations on the Island before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights  4/15/2016 Institute on Race & Equality: The Institue received $25,599 in 2015 from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). - "Commissioner Margaret Macaulay asked about repression against particularly vulnerable populations, specifically against Afro-descendants and LGBTI persons. In response to this question, petitioners cited the case of two LGBTI activists recently detained for reproducing trainings on the rights of the LGBTI community. Laritza Diversent added that “the level of violence in the repression of black women activists is brutal,” and that “Afro-descendancy is a determinant factor the cruelty of attacks” by State agents."

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Request for Statements of Interest: Programs Fostering Civil, Political, and Labor Rights in Cuba FY16  1/6/2016 State Department: Not NED, but the closely related State Department Bureau of Democracy.

Varios grupos opositores reciben el Premio Libertad Pedro Luis Boitel 2015  10/23/2015 Damas de Blanco: "Uno de los premios fue concedido al Foro por los Derechos y Libertades y recibieron el galardón tres de sus líderes, la líder de las Damas de Blanco, Berta Soler por las Damas de Blanco; Jorge Luís García Pérez, “Antúnez”, del Frente de Resistencia Cívica Orlando Zapata Tamayo, y Antonio Rodiles, director de Estado de Sats."

Americas Quarterly 2015 Social Inclusion Index Launch  9/8/2015 AS/COA: ""Speakers at the launch and public panel will include:* Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Susan Segal, president and CEO, Americas Society/Council of the Americas; Mauricio Vivero, CEO, Seattle International Foundation; Judith Morrison, senior advisor for the Gender and Diversity Division, Inter-American Development Bank; Elizabeth Zechmeister, Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), Vanderbilt University; Carlos Quesada, executive director, International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights; and Alana Tummino, senior editor, Americas Quarterly, and director of Policy, Americas Society/Council of the Americas (moderator)."

Disidentes invitan a Lech Walesa a La Habana para debatir sobre democracia  5/29/2015 Diario de Cuba: "En este camino, Walesa, quien es un símbolo vivo del gran cambio histórico, para muchos decidió el destino político de lo que hoy llamamos Europa, representa un mito internacional", señaló la Plataforma de Integración Cubana, que organiza el evento."

Directorio pays thousands of Cubans  5/20/2015 Along the Malecón: "Now based in Hialeah, Fla., the organization gives direct aid to Cuban dissidents and carries out radio broadcasts to the island. Its co-founder and national secretary is Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, who made headlines in April after getting into a fistfight in Panama City where the Summit of the Americas took place. His foe that day was Alexis Frutos Weeden, identified as a Cuban intelligence chief. Gutierrez' wife, Janisset Rivero-Gutierrez, is adjunct national secretary of Directorio Democrático. Board member Lorenzo L. de Toro is her brother-in-law. The executive director and co-founder is Javier de Céspedes. U.S. taxpayers provide most of the funding for the Directorio, which received $6,272,110 in government grants from 2009 to 2013, tax records show."

ANALISIS: Las Damas de Blanco: Una Operación Psicológica de Inteligencia (OSIS) y Negra (Black Ops.) de Golpe Suave contra Fidel.  3/11/2015 Codigo Abierto: "Es incuestionable pensar que las Damas de Blanco surgieran de forma espontánea como muchos creen —incluso y con seguridad por la mayoría de sus miembros fundadores— ellas fueron el producto de un componente táctico dentro de una Operación Psicológica de Inteligencia (OSIS) y Negra (Black Ops.) montada contra La Habana desarrollada por los Servicios Especiales de los EE.UU. bajo la administración de George W. Bush, patrocinada con fondos discrecionales inicialmente provenientes de la USAID además de los aportados por el National Endowment for Democracy (NED)."

NED's new list of Cuba grantees  3/10/2015 Along the Malecón: "The National Endowment for Democracy has published a new list of grant recipients for its Cuba programs. The information is taken from the non-profit organization's 2014 annual report."

Democracy Programs in Cuba: the NED report  2/17/2015 Progresso Weekly: published in its 2013 annual report - "The National Endowment for Democracy is a major recipient of US government funds for channeling to democracy programs in Cuba. The NED, based in Washington, D.C., does a better job than most organizations in disclosing to the public how it spends its money."

Democracy Programs in Cuba: the NED Report  2/14/2015 Havana Times: "The following is the list of US Gov. funded grants through NED, published in its 2013 annual report"

Will there be despair in Cuba by end of USAID funding?.  2/10/2015 The Cuban Handshake: "After several scandals of corruption and diversion of these funds the U.S. Congress decided not to give more budget to USAID, by allocating $ 17.5 million to promote subversion against Cuba at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which will receive $ 7.5 million to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, both of the Department of State, which will receive the other 10 million. They are responsible for promoting the grants for which opt for various contractors who run various anti-Cuban projects."

Raperos cubanos contestan a la AP y al gobierno de Castro  2/9/2015 Nuevo Herald: "Varios raperos cubanos respondieron a las alegaciones de la agencia AP de que el movimiento de hip-hop en la isla fue financiado por la Agencia para el Desarrollo Internacional de Estados Unidos (USAID) “para derrocar al gobierno de Cuba”, como mejor saben hacerlo: interpretando un rap."

Cuba/2013: Organizaciones y web anticastristas que reciben fondos de la National Endowmnet for Democracia (NED)  10/21/2014 Codigo Abierto

Why USAID’s Cuban Twitter Program was Secret  4/14/2014 NACLA: "NACLA has been covering the overt and covert programs of USAID since March 1968. NACLA stories were instrumental in bringing down another secretive branch of USAID, the Office of Public Safety (OPS). OPS—like the modern-day OTI—was a secretive operation. It trained right-wing police and paramilitaries and involved itself with death squads, torture, and other unethical activities throughout the world. In 1974, after some eight years of NACLA’s exposing OPS, Congress was able to close it down. The momentum for ridding ourselves of OTI does not yet exist in Congress, but if we can keep it on the agenda long enough, this blight on our collective reputation worldwide can be expunged."

¿A qué vino realmente Berta Soler a Miami?  3/25/2014 Cuba Si: "Este programa de estudiantes en el Miami Dade College ha tenido cuestionamientos por parte de grupos de la llamada oposición en Cuba y de organizaciones de Miami, como el Consejo por la Libertad de Cuba (CLC), que dirigen Remedios Díaz Oliver, Diego Suárez, Marcell Felipe y cuya vocera es Ninoska Lucrecia Pérez Castellón; y el Directorio Democrático Cubano de Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat y Janisset Rivero. Lo que argumentan es el uso indebido de fondos y nepotismo, ya que se están otorgando las becas por cercanía familiar, amistad e interés partidista."

Apuntes sobre el Programa Cuba de la NED en el 2013  2/4/2014 Miradas Encontradas: "La Asociación de Iberoamericanos por la Libertad (AIL) recibió 60 mil dólares para promover eventos anticubanos con participación de las figuras más “ilustres” de la contrarrevolución cubana, como Yoani Sánchez y Berta Soler. Esta organización radica en España y cuenta entre sus miembros con elementos derechistas como el escritor “peruano” Mario Vargas Llosa o Antonio Guedes Sánchez, su Presidente. Su trabajo contrarrevolucionario en España lo conjuga con el de otras asociaciones como la Asociación Damas de Blanco en España, de escasísima membresía, el Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos y la Fundación Hispano Cubana."

Cómo ocultaron en Miami la votación contra el bloqueo en la ONU  11/3/2013 Cuba Si: "Antúnez fue a la OEA de la mano del Directorio Democrático Cubano que en Miami dirigen Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, Janisset Rivero y su propia hermana Berta Antúnez; pero la orden la dieron los norteamericanos, que también han trazado la estrategia contra Cuba desde el propio año 1959; si no desde antes. Yoani viajó a California bajo la supervisión de la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana de Jorge Mas Santos asentada en Miami, pero la ruta la diseñan las agencias norteamericanas. De eso ya no hay duda."

NED funded Black Cuban dissidents visit Pittsburgh  5/11/2013 AfroCubaWeb

For Cuba’s blacks, the ‘revolution hasn’t begun’  3/24/2013 Democracy Digest: This NED blog uses Zurbano's article as a way to legitimize their leaders, including Antunez, a dissident manufactured along Basulto/Brothers to the Rescue lines.

La NED sigue apostado al duro en la subversión contra Cuba  9/21/2012 Rebelion

Promoting Citizen Journalism: Opportunities for Change in Cuba  7/1/2012 NED: "En el 2010 los agraciados con los fondos de la NED fueron Afro-Cuban Alliance, Inc. ($110 000), Asociación Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana ($91 000), Center for a Free Cuba ($55 000), Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina ($60 000), People in Need ($103 875), Committee for Free Trade Unionism ($90 000), Directorio Democrático Cubano ($175 000), CubaNet News Inc. ($239 434), Disidente Universal de Puerto Rico ($50 000), Evangelical Christian Humanitarian Outreach for Cuba ($60 064), elGrupo Internacional para la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa en Cuba ($200,000), Instituto Político para la Libertad Perú ($49 967), el Instituto Republicano Internacional ($800 000), el Instituto Nacional Demócrata ($325 000) y People in Peril Association ($40 000)."

La NED presenta medalla por la Democracia otorgada a Laura Pollán  4/18/2012 Damas de Blanco: "La National Endowment for Democracy (NED) presentó en La Habana la Medalla de Servicio por la Democracia que le fuera otorgada de forma póstuma a Laura Pollán, la fallecida líder de las Damas de Blanco. Judy Shelton, vicepresidenta de la junta de directores de la NED, visitó en la Isla a Berta Soler, actual líder del movimiento Damas de Blanco; Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, viudo de Pollán y ex-preso político, y Laura Labrada Pollán, hija de Pollán."

Democracy Service Medal Presented in Cuba  4/17/2012 NED: "NED Vice-Chair Judy Shelton (second from right) presented it in person to Berta Soler, the leader of the Damas de Blanco movement founded by Laura Pollán; Héctor Maseda Guitiérrez, Pollán's widower and a journalist who spent eight years imprisoned by the Cuban government; and Laura Labrada Pollán, Pollán's daughter and a member of the Damas de Blanco."

La NED y el uso de Internet contra la Revolución Cubana  4/14/2012 Jiribilla: "El abastecimiento de equipos de telecomunicaciones sofisticados a miembros de la contrarrevolución interna, tales como BGAN, teléfonos satelitales, celulares de última generación, equipos de filmaciones, PC´s y laptops, programas de encriptación de comunicaciones entre otros recursos, además de los financieros y el asesoramiento a los “disidentes” para que aprendan a utilizar estos equipos, ha sido una constante en los planes de la Administración norteamericana. La utilización exitosa de las redes sociales a través de Internet para promover los procesos de la “Primavera Árabe”, ha incentivado los planes para promover un proceso semejante en Cuba a través de Internet y las TIC´s."

The Effects, Importance and Achievements of Anti-Racist Thought  2/1/2012 Isla: This dissident publication funded by NED includes an article by Manuel Cuesta Morúa, descendant of Martin Morua Delgado

Ladies in White Founder Honored  12/20/2011 NED: "On December 14, NED posthumously honored Laura Pollan with the Democracy Service Medal for giving her last full measure of devotion to the cause of "Libertad."

Sticky fingers at “Ladies in White” in Cuba  10/28/2011 Machetera: "One of the “Ladies” sponsors, with financing from Washington expressly for this purpose, is a U.S. Army veteran, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, who runs the Cuban Democratic Directorate [Directorio Democrático Cubano], an NGO that receives substantial USAID funding to carry out subversive activities in Cuba. Gutiérrez Boronat is also a former member of the terrorist Organzation for the Liberation of Cuba [Organización para la Liberación de Cuba.] Like the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, Gutiérrez Boronat is connected with the right-wing extremists from the ARENA party in El Salvador. The money earmarked for the “Ladies” and other members of the opposition network fabricated by the USIS was “frozen” for a number of months in Washington in reaction to the various fraud scandals uncovered by the General Accounting Office (GAO), in which very well-known individuals from the Cuban-American mafia were involved."

Race, Racism and Culture in Twenty-First Century Cuba  1/15/2011 Islas: by María I. Faguaga Iglesias, Historian and anthropologist, Havana, Cuba. Islas is funded by NED - "A.- Why is even today, in a republic that proclaims itself to be socialist, and should embrace at its core Martí’s ideal “with all, and for the good of all,” that all the thinking of our great, black Founding Fathers is kept hidden from the Cuban population, and even distorted? B.- Why is there a particular emphasis on keeping it from the black population?"

Queloides: Race and Racism  9/1/2010 Islas: by María I. Faguaga Iglesias, Historian and anthropologist, Havana, Cuba. Islas receives NED funding. - "The conceptual and socially committed art we see in Queloides is not gratuitous, even if many who are consciously or subconsciously racist may think it somewhat forced or uncomfortable— a much too elaborated stretch. Cuban television took one month to cover Queloides, although for no apparent reason it had to be visited from the rear of the building, as used to be the case before 1959, when black and mulatto people had to do just so. Not too few now would like to see that happen now. This kind of observation or comment can always garner one accusations of being too sensitive, racist, and divisive, to which is added no one sees that but you,you and your bad intentions and your habit of harping on racism. These are the facts."

USAID invierte más de $2.3 millones en propaganda contra Cuba por Internet  5/15/2010 Jiribilla

El agente “Chris” Sabatini propone a Obama incrementar la injerencia  1/11/2010 Rebelion: de Jean-Guy Allard - "Para comentar y promover las agresiones de la USAID contra Cuba, la revista Foreign Policy se ha buscado, para su última edición, un autentico especialista: Christopher “Chris” Sabatini, un ex alto funcionario de la NED identificado hace ya años en Venezuela como agente de la CIA y promotor de acciones ilegales de los grupos de extrema derecha. En Foreign Policy, Sabatini no sólo reduce las intervenciones de injerencia en la Isla de los llamados “contratistas” de la USAID al nivel de ayuda humanitaria sino que insta al gobierno de EEUU a incrementar masivamente tales actividades encubiertas, orientadas por la Agencia Central de Inteligencia. Con el propósito evidente de engañar, Sabatini habla de una distribución gratuita de “laptops y otros accesorios de comunicaciones” a los informantes reclutados en La Habana por la inteligencia estadounidense. Pretende ignorar que un portavoz del Departamento de Estados ya admitió que Washington busca proveer a sus mercenarios de la Isla de “comunicaciones globales”, es decir satelitales, con el evidente propósito de controlarlos y orientarlos desde el exterior con facilidad."

The Juan Gualberto Gómez Movement for Racial Integration  1/1/2010 Islas: Islas is supported by NED funds. This article is by José I. Vélez Hernández, National Coordinator, Havana, Cuba

Racial Discrimination in Cuba: An Open Secret  1/1/2010 Islas: Islas is supported by NED funds. This article is by Jorge Olivera Castillo, Writer and journalist, Havana, Cuba

Líderes afroamericanos exigen a La Habana que ponga fin a su 'insensible desprecio' por los negros  12/1/2009 Cuba Encuentro: Cuba Encuentro receives high levels of NED funding.

Washington intensificará su propaganda injerencista contra países del ALBA  10/30/2009 Aporrea: "La Voz de las Américas (VOA) está “expandiendo su penetración” en Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador y Nicaragua, revela un diario de Miami al señalar que, con este objetivo, la cadena radiofónica que difunde a escala mundial la propaganda derechista norteamericana requisara instalaciones de Radio y TV Martí."

The Black Man: The Object of Others  9/1/2009 Islas: by Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Historian, philosopher and anthropologist, General Secretary of the Socialist Democratic Current, Havana, Cuba. Islas is NED funded. "The situation in Cuba is so-so. The discursive spaces opened up by Tomás Fernández Robaina and Tato Quiñones, who are pioneers in this area, are promising. Color Cubano, with Gisela Arandia; the Cofradía de la Negritud [the Brotherhood of Blackness], with Norberto Mesa; the Movimiento de Integración Racial [the Movement for Racial Integration], with José Vélez; or, more recently, the Ciudadanos por la Integración Racial [Citizens for Racial Integration] project, promoted by the Arco Progresista, which are closer to my position, all bear witness to the problem. There were also shining moments—when singer-songwriter Gerardo Alfonso tried to open up a space in the nineties, and both Elvira Cervera and Walter Carbonell went public on just how marginalized any attempt to culturally, politically, intellectually and academically explore the black issue in Cuba had become."

Juanes en Cuba: ¿Quién financia la campaña sucia?  8/19/2009 Aporrea: "Uno de los más activos opositores al espectáculo que ofrecerá el cantante colombiano Juanes en La Habana el 20 de septiembre próximo, vive desde décadas de subsidios del Departamento de Estado a organizaciones anti-cubanas y aparece de nuevo en la última lista de rentistas de la National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Según documentos publicados recientemente por la investigadora venezolana Eva Golinger, el norteamericano de origen cubano Orlando Gutiérrez, dueño del llamado Directorio Demócratico Cubano (DDC),recibió en el último presupuesto de la NED la cantidad de 275 000 dólares, fundamentalmente para mantener su actividad de difamación de Cuba a través de denuncias y actividades públicas."

Cuba: más que nunca, la USAID sigue invirtiendo en la subversión  8/9/2009 Cuba Ahorra

Cuba: USAID making ever-higher investments in subversion  8/5/2009 Granma: "On the other hand, the NED, a CIA front agency — it was founded to do the work that the CIA did in the 1960s and 70s but with a more legitimate image — has contributed $1.435 million to promoting destabilization in Cuba this year, Golinger states, listing the groups benefiting from that U.S. fund."

USAID, key weapon in dirty war on Latin America  9/23/2008 Monthly Review: "In Haiti, the USAID is among a number of U.S. agencies that organized, directed and funded Haitian political organizations to provoke the kidnapping and grotesque eviction of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In Venezuela, the agency was scandalously active in backing and financing the sectors responsible for the coup of April 11, 2002. The uninterrupted squandering of the funds of USAID and its subsidiaries with coup-inspired operations is already in excess of $15 million, via the funding of hundreds of groups and mini-groups aligned with the U.S. embassy. In Bolivia, the USAID program is focused on the country's Balkanization and the funding of violent activities against the authority of the president. A few weeks ago, various farmers' federations and five municipalities in the Cochabamba region expelled agents from this organization after exposing their involvement in plotting a coup d'état."

Cuba Democracy Groups Facing Audits After Reports of Fraud  7/23/2008 WaPo: "In March, agency officials suspended a $2.3 million grant to the Center for a Free Cuba after the group disclosed that a former employee, who later became a White House staffer working on Cuba issues, allegedly had used more than $500,000 in grant money for illegitimate purposes. The former employee, Felipe Sixto, resigned from his Bush administration job March 20 after the allegations came to light."

Getting Smart About Cuba  3/8/2008 Foreign Policy in Focus: "Beyond the blood ties, there is a more subtle and significant architecture that supports the status quo. It’s a taxpayer-funded “embargo industry” that employs hundreds, if not thousands, whose livelihoods depend on Cuba remaining, well - Cuba. It began during the Reagan years with appropriations for Radio and TV Marti that today top $500 million to beam U.S. propaganda into Cuba. In the case of TV Marti, even $225 million can’t buy Cuban viewers since the Cuban government jams the signal. But a half a billion bucks does buy jobs, contracts and political loyalties. Almost simultaneously, hardliners helped create the National Endowment for Democracy. One of the agency’s first grants went to the powerful Cuban American National Foundation - a group that delivered the first Cuban-Americans to Congress. Since 2000, NED has provided at least $4.9 million to Cuba related pro-democracy programs. The windfall from these first programs emboldened the hardliners to write more legislation funding more work for Cuba democracy-builders, that is - embargo supporters - in Miami and worldwide. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grants to “support political transition in Cuba” totaling more than $40 million have gone primarily to Miami-based groups since they were first doled out in 1996."

Getting Smart About Cuba  3/7/2008 GPF: "Beyond the blood ties, there is a more subtle and significant architecture that supports the status quo. It's a taxpayer-funded "embargo industry" that employs hundreds, if not thousands, whose livelihoods depend on Cuba remaining, well - Cuba. It began during the Reagan years with appropriations for Radio and TV Marti that today top $500 million to beam U.S. propaganda into Cuba. In the case of TV Marti, even $225 million can't buy Cuban viewers since the Cuban government jams the signal. But a half a billion bucks does buy jobs, contracts and political loyalties. Almost simultaneously, hardliners helped create the National Endowment for Democracy. One of the agency's first grants went to the powerful Cuban American National Foundation - a group that delivered the first Cuban-Americans to Congress. Since 2000, NED has provided at least $4.9 million to Cuba related pro-democracy programs."

International Republican Institute Grants Uncovered Reporters Without Borders and Washington's Coups  8/1/2006 CounterPunch: "In spite of 14 months of stonewalling by the National Endowment for Democracy over a Freedom of Information Act request and a flat denial from RSF executive director Lucie Morillon, the NED has revealed that Reporters Without Borders received grants over at least three years from the International Republican Institute. The NED still refuses to provide the requested documents or even reveal the grant amounts, but they are identified by these numbers: IRI 2002-022/7270, IRI 2003-027/7470 and IRI 2004-035/7473. Investigative reporter Jeremy Bigwood asked Morillon on April 25 if her group was getting any money from the I.R.I., and she denied it, but the existence of the grants was confirmed by NED assistant to the president, Patrick Thomas. The discovery of the grants reveals a major deception by the group, which for years denied it was getting any Washington dollars until some relatively small grants from the NED and the Center for a Free Cuba were revealed (see Counterpunch: "Reporters Without Borders Unmasked"). When asked to account for its large income RSF has claimed the money came from the sale of books of photographs. But researcher Salim Lamrani has pointed out the improbability of this claim. Even taking into account that the books are published for free, it would have had to sell 170 200 books in 2004 and 188 400 books in 2005 to earn the more than $2 million the organization claims to make each year 516 books per day in 2005. The money clearly had to come from other sources, as it turns out it did."

The Reporters Without Borders Fraud  5/16/2005 VoltaireNet: "Finally the truth has come to light. Mr. Robert Ménard, secretary general of the RSF for twenty years, has confessed to receiving financing from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an organization that depends on the U.S. Department of State, whose principal role is to promote the agenda of the White House for the entire world. Ménard was indeed very clear. “We indeed receive money from the NED. And that hasn’t posed any problem.” [1]"

Organizaciones financiadas por la NED contra Cuba  11/10/2003 Jiribilla: published in April, relevant today! Note the "Black Cuban Forum"

W. BUSH CON LOS FINANCISTAS DE ENCUENTRO  11/9/2003 Jiribillas: "Además de financiar a la terrorista Fundación Nacional Cubana Americana, la NED ha sido la principal fuente de dinero de las publicaciones fabricadas para la campaña de subversión contra Cuba, privilegiando entre ellas a la revista Encuentro, a la cual la «cuasi gubernamental agencia» beneficia con 83 000 dólares anuales, según consta en su página web."

Terrorism and Civil Society as Instruments of US Policy in Cuba  8/8/2003 Counterpunch: by Philip Agee - "Both the Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy without doubt have documentation requirements and approval processes similar to the CIA’s for project funding in the civil societies of other countries. All the people involved must receive prior approval through an investigative process, and each person has clearly defined tasks. An inter-agency commission determines which of the three agencies, the CIA, AID or NED, or a combination of them, are to carry out specific tasks in the civil societies of specific countries and how much money each should give. All three have obviously been working to develop an opposition civil society in Cuba."

NED Covert Action Cuba  1/14/1996 CIA Base: "Some of the entries on NED operations related to CUBA are listed below."

Haiti

Haiti: la labor “humanitaria” de la USAID  3/1/2010 Kaos en la Red: "Analizando los miles de millones de que se han invertido para el “desarrollo” de Haití cabe preguntarse cómo es posible que invirtiendo tanto dinero ese país sigue ocupando uno de los lugares más bajos en la lista de países pobres. La esencia está en que ese dinero entró y con la misma salió de la mano de empresas extranjeras, ONG´s y políticos haitianos corruptos. Los fondos no han tenido como finalidad mejorar al pueblo haitiano sino garantizar los intereses geoestrátegicos norteamericanos en la región."

Soldiers in Haiti told to stop handing out food  1/20/2010 Military Times: "Food handouts were shut off Tuesday to thousands of people at a tent city here when the main U.S. aid agency said the Army should not be distributing the packages. It was not known whether the action reflected a high-level policy decision at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or confusion in a city where dozens of entities are involved in aid efforts."

SOROS Focuses on Security in Haiti's Cité Soleil Slum  8/21/2009 Haiti Action: "A recent piece written by Ruxandra Guidi for the Soros funded America's Quarterly clearly represents the perspective of MINUSTAH and USAID. It's bias is clear early on, "Shortly after Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004 (under pressure from the U.S. and Canada due to a sharp rise in organized violence)." Only those who supported Aristide being taken out of his bed in the middle of the night and forced onto a plane and exile abroad continue to falsely repeat the unproven assertion of a "sharp rise in organized violence." It's a familiar narrative that is uncritically recycled and designed to justify the ouster of Haiti's democratically president on Feb. 29, 2004."

Haitian recipients of USAID/IRI/NED/EU to destabilize, starve democracy and foment violence and Coup D'etat, mostly under the guise of "democracy or justice and peace enhancement programs  6/1/2008 Marguerite Laurent: "The subcontracted Haitians below have sold the nation to foreigners and their NGOs in exchange for visas, jobs and a few "trickle down" dollars."

En Haití desenmascaran a una reportera NED  2/16/2006 Jiribilla

Left, Right, Left, Right: Running off With Haiti's Democracy  2/15/2006 Zmag: "Further insight into the 'socialist coalition' is found in IRI reports from 2000 and 2001 for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), obtained through FOIA by journalist Jeremy Bigwood. These reports describe how prominent members of opposition parties OPL and KONAKOM, Irvelt Cherie and Victor Benoit respectively, attended meetings with the IRI and U.S. officials in Washington, along with other prominent Haitians including Rudy Boulos, a wealthy business elite who would later help found the Washington-based Haiti Democracy Project, an anti-Aristide lobby group and think tank, and the foreign public relations arm of the Group of 184 and Democratic Convergence opposition bloc. Interestingly, Boulos resigned from his seat on the Board of the HDP in order to run for Senate in the NorthEast department with the Fusion, the party which comprise part of the "socialist coalition" and "agreement for modernity and democracy" signed with Haiti's right-wing parties in November. We should also recall that another Haiti Democracy Project Board member, Timothy Carney, also resigned in order to take over as interim Ambassador to Haiti. Carney has long been a fierce defender of the IRI's activities in Haiti and an ally of Haiti's elite. It was while he was U.S. Ambassador to Haiti in 1998-99 under Clinton that the IRI was forced to shut down its operations there, and set up shop in the Dominican Republic under the leadership of IRI Program Officer Stanley Lucas. In a recent NYT article, the IRI and Stanley Lucas were singled out as, in effect, 'rogue elements' straying from an otherwise benign U.S. 'democracy promotion' program for Haiti. Nowhere in the extensive NYT piece, nor in the IRI-led propaganda melee that has ensued, is there mention of an across-the-board strategy coordinated by the State Department, the NED, USAID, among other foreign actors, to collectively foster the conditions for elite rule in Haiti in strict accordance with the dictates of neoliberal globalization. One example of the coordinated effort to help build and consolidate an opposition to Aristide and Lavalas came from a current program officer for the National Endowment for Democracy. I spoke to Fabiola Cordova in December, 2005. She had just recently taken over at the NED's Washington office after some staff turnover in the Latin American and Caribbean division. Her experience in Haiti came from a six month job as an in-country program officer for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), one of the four core grantees of the NED. With combined grants coming from NED, the State Department, and USAID, NDI's budget for "democracy promotion" is over $100 million a year."

U.S. Gvt. Channels Millions Through National Endowment for Democracy to Fund Anti-Lavalas Groups in Haiti  1/23/2006 Democracy Now: "The NED operates with an annual budget of $80 million dollars from U.S. Congress and the State Department. In Venezuela, it’s given money to several political opponents of President Hugo Chavez. With elections underway in Haiti, it’s reportedly doing the same to groups linked to the country’s tiny elite and former military. Last week Democracy Now! interviewed Anthony Fenton about NED’s activities in Haiti and across the Caribbean and Latin America. Fenton is an independent journalist and co-author of the book “Canada in Haiti: Waging War On The Poor Majority.” He has interviewed several top governmental and non-governmental officials dealing with Haiti as well as leading members of Haiti’s business community. Last month, he helped expose an NED-funded journalist who was filing stories for the Associated Press from Haiti. The Associated Press subsequently terminated its relationship with the journalist."

Batay Ouvriye's Smoking Gun  1/10/2006 Znet: "Recently declassified National Endowment for Democracy (NED) documents reveal that a "leftist" workers' organization, Batay Ouvriye (BO), which promoted and called for the overthrow of the constitutionally elected government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was the targeted beneficiary of a US $99,965 NED grant routed through the AFL-CIO's American Center for International Solidarity (ACILS). Listed in NED's "Summary of Projects Approved in FY 2005" for Haiti, the grant states, "ACILS will work with the May 1st Union Federation- Batay Ouvriye [ESPM-BO] to train workers to organize and educate fellow workers."

Denial in Haiti  12/31/2005 Consortium News: "Major U.S. news organizations, including the New York Times, also have had to grapple with star reporters, like Judith Miller, who shed professional skepticism and parroted administration propaganda as news. A similar issue has now arisen in Haiti, where a stringer for the Times and the Associated Press appears to have done work for the U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy. After the story broke, the AP severed its relationship with the stringer and the Times is investigating."

Denial in Haiti: AP reporter REGINE is wearing two hats ( 0)  12/30/2005 Haiti Action: "Regine Alexandre, whose name appears as an AP by-line at least a dozen times starting in May of 2004, and appears as a contributor to two NY Times stories, is a part of an NED "experiment" to place a representative on the ground in countries where the NED has funded groups."

The Reporters Without Borders Fraud  5/13/2005 Marguerite Laurent: [This article deals only marginally with Haiti, but it is crucial to understand the context of RSF's anti Lavalas bias and their reporting on Haiti that has been severely lacking in objectivity. D. Esser] "The strong suspicions that have surrounded the dubious and partisan activities of Reporters without Boarders (RSF) were not unfounded. For many years, various critics have denounced the largely political actions of the Parisian entity, particularly with regards to Cuba and Venezuela, whose characteristics that utilizes propaganda is obvious. The positions of RSF against the governments of Havana and Caracas are found in perfect correlation with the political and media war that Washington carries out against the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutionaries. Finally the truth has come to light. Mr. Robert Ménard, secretary general of the RSF for twenty years, has confessed to receiving financing from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an organization that depends on the U.S. Department of State, whose principal role is to promote the agenda of the White House for the entire world. Ménard was indeed very clear. “We indeed receive money from the NED. And that hasn’t posed any problem.” (1) Former U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, created the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in 1983, during a period in which military violence took the place of traditional diplomacy in order to resolve international matters."

Did the Bush Administration Allow a Network of Right-Wing Republicans to Foment a Violent Coup in Haiti?  7/20/2004 Democracy Now: "We speak with Max Blumenthal contibutor to Salon.com and author of a new investigative piece that examines the role of the United States in destabilizing the democratically-elected government of Jean Bertrand-Aristide through the International Republican Institute, a federally-funded [frequently by NED], nonprofit political group backed by powerful Republicans close to the Bush administration."

Honduras

In Honduras, USAID Was in Bed with Berta Cáceres’ Accused Killers  5/27/2016 Counterpunch: "Less than three months before Lenca leader Berta Cáceres was brutally assassinated, the social arm of Desarollos Energeticos SA (DESA)–the Honduran company leading the Agua Zarca dam project Cáceres was campaigning against–signed a contract with USAID implementing partner Fintrac, a Washington DC based development contracting firm. The DESA representative who was present for the public signing of the USAID agreement was none other than Sergio Rodríguez, the company’s Social Investment Manager, who is now accused of Cáceres’ assassination along with another former DESA employee and individuals with military ties. The arrests also included Douglas Geovanny Bustillo, a retired military officer and the former head of DESA’s security detail. The trial against the accused murderers began on Monday."

Negev Security, NED, the misuse of culture within the FNRP, & more  5/26/2011 Qotha: "NED was the organization that financed, organized, and sent the bulk of "observers" to legitimize the illegitimate and fraudulent 2009 elections — since the EU, UN, OAS and Carter Center had declared them illegal and thus prevented the legal possibility for the presence of international monitors."

Golpistas presionan por cuotas de poder a “Pepe” Lobo  1/13/2010 El Libertador: "La conocida organización golpista Unión Cívica Democrática (UCD), financiada por la CIA y USAID para consolidar el golpe de Estado contra el Presidente Zelaya, prácticamente está asestándole un golpe de Estado al presidente electo Pepe Lobo que está presionándolo para que les conceda secretarías de Estado y posiciones importantes en el próximo gobierno. Las caras visibles del golpe de Estado y miembros activos de la Unión Cívica son, entre otros: María Martha Díaz, Armida López y Luz Ernestina Mejía, ellas y otros gente de esta organización creada para impulsar las marchas de los “camisas blancas”, ahora aparecen oponiéndose a la amnistía que en todo caso ellas también recibirán, porque de lo contrario, tendrán que ir a la cárcel por su participación en el crimen constitucional."

HONDURAS: “El señor que ganó las elecciones tendrá que lidiar con nosotros durante toda su gestión”: Vice canciller Beatrice Valle  12/11/2009 Dick Emanuelsson: "Anexo sobre los recursos económico suministrados por NED, National Endowment for Democracy, que la vice canciller hondureña, Beatrice Valle acusa de ser un instigador en las elecciones hondureñas. "HAGAMOS DEMOCRACIA" en Honduras es financiada por la USAID, NED y otros organismos. En este anexo en donde se muestra los presupuestos durante seis años a HAGAMOS DEMOCRACIA, solo el organismo de NED ha pagado a Hagamos Democracia la suma de 565,000 dólares a la seccional en Nicaragua. Todo el mundo sabe la guerra que ha ejecutado la embajada de Estados Unidos en Managua contra el gobierno sandinista acusándolo de fraude. A su asistencia ha tenido un bloque de llamados ONGs que casualmente son casi todos financiados en gran parte por organismos como NED o USAID."

More Tax Dollars At Work  10/2/2009 Honduras Coup 2009: "Grant highlights for 2008, the latest information available on the NED website, indicate a grant of $550,000 to the International Republican Institute to promote and enhance think tanks in Mexico and Honduras as "pressure groups" to force the political parties to develop concrete positions on key issues. "IRI will place special emphasis on Honduras...." In addition the IRI received a $400,000 grant to provide elected officials with management skills in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala , and Honduras. Finally, the Trust for the Americas received a $95,338 grant to strengthen the capacity of member organizations to promote Freedom of Expression and access to information, and to encourage the implementation of information acces laws in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragaua, and Panama. Trust for the Americas is a non profit associated with the OAS. The IRI lists a program on municipal good government as its sole project in Honduras this year. It uses polls and focus groups conducted by the IRI to identify gaps in services and where citizens are asking for greater transparency and accountability. The program partners with the Fundación para el Desarrollo Municipal. This program is funded at levels above $1 million."

Capo de la prensa golpista patrocinó un Premio 'Derechos Humanos' de la SIP  9/28/2009 Patria Grande: "Increiblemente, apenas un mes despues de haber conspirado y participado en el secuestro y la expulsión de Honduras del Presidente Manuel Zelaya, uno de los dos más recalcitrantes magnates de prensa de Honduras, Jorge Canahuati Larach, cuyos diarios son los voceros más fanáticos del régimen Micheletti, ha sido copatrocinador, del “Premio Derechos Humanos” 2009 de la Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP), la asociación de los magnates de la prensa comercial del continente. La SIP es este cartel de comerciantes de la información que predica constantemente su version de la libertad de prensa en campañas de difamación dirigidas de manera sistemática en contra de los líderes progresistas de América Latina."

La SIP pretende ignorar que sus propios miembros iniciaron el golpe en Honduras  9/24/2009 Bol Press: "La Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) que tanto lamenta las "limitaciones" a la libertad de prensa que sufren los medios de comunicación opuestos al golpe de Estado, evita recordar que dos de los principales conspiradores del cuartelazo que llevo a la expulsión del Presidente Zelaya son también sus principales (y casi únicos) miembros hondureños. Asociada desde décadas a la CIA y radicada en Miami, USA, la SIP publica "denuncias" de las interrupciones de la energía eléctrica al Canal 36 y de la señal de Radio Globo, con las cuales pretende darse una imagen de legitimidad."

The boundless hypocrisy of the Inter-American Press Association  9/24/2009 Machetera: "The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) that bemoans the “limitations” on press freedom suffered by media opposed to the coup d’etat, avoids recalling that two of the main conspirators behind the coup which led to the expulsion of President Zelaya from Honduras are also its main (and practically only) Honduran members. Associated for decades with the CIA and located in Miami, USA, the IAPA has issued “denunciations” of the electricity cutoffs to Channel 36 and Radio Globo, through which they are trying to give themselves a legitimate image… Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé, the former president of Honduras (1998-2001) and the owner of the La Tribuna newspaper, and Jorge Canahuati Larach, the billionaire owner of the La Prensa and El Heraldo newspapers are among the conspirators who brought about the coup."

Para la Loba Feroz, el regreso de Zelaya es “amenazante”  9/22/2009 CubaDebate: "En la misma lógica ultraderechista que defiende Ros-Lehtinen, las elecciones que realizaría en noviembre la junta golpista dispondría como “observadores” a enviados del grupo neonazi UnoAmérica y de la “Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe para la Libertad”, un apéndice de la Fundación Libertad, financiada por la NED y al Faes de José María Aznar, según la prensa oficialista hondureña Los magistrados del Tribunal Supremo Electoral, TSE, han anunciado que “recibieron el ofrecimiento oficial de participación como observadores” de estos grupos cuya filiación con la CIA y la derecha latinoamericana más recalcitrante está bien documentada. En los últimos meses, UnoAmérica (Unión de Organizaciones Democráticas de América) ha realizado campañas de propaganda contra Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay y Nicaragua. UnoAmerica es diriga por el venezolano Alejandro Peña Esclusa, un opositor golpista a Hugo Chávez."

Ros-Lehtinen Proposes Amendment to Cut Funding to OAS - Funds would be re-routed to support the National Endowment for Democracy  7/8/2009 House Foreign Affairs Committee: “From its warm overtures towards the Cuban tyrants to its knee-jerk support of Manuel Zelaya, echoing the rhetoric and agenda of autocratic leaders like Chavez, Morales, and Ortega, the OAS is losing credibility as an entity that stands for democratic institutions, human rights, and the rule of law."

The Role of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in the Honduran Coup  7/7/2009 Chavez Code: "The International Republican Institute talks of “coup” in Honduras, months before. By Eva Golinger."

Iran

World Movement for Democracy-Made in the USA  6/28/2009 Political Research Associates: published 7/05 - "Together with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy has functioned as an instrument of the U.S. government’s democratization strategy over the past two decades. Whereas USAID is an agency of the State Department, quasi-governmental NED is organized as a nonprofit but funded almost entirely by the U.S. government. Since 1982, when President Reagan launched what he called a “crusade” to foster “free market democracies” and spread the a neoliberal version of the “magic of the marketplace,” both USAID and NED have channeled U.S. government development and public diplomacy funding into the democratization programs of the international institutes of the Republican and Democratic Parties, the AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as a wide range of institutes, political parties, and nongovernmental organizations abroad."

NED's WMD  3/18/2008 Critical Montages: "The National Endowment for Democracy, in its tireless effort to give democracy a bad name, initiated a project called "World Movement for Democracy" in 1999. The project's acronym, WMD, may very well be a bad inside joke among the guardians of the empire today."

Iran: Dissidents Debate Merits Of U.S. Democracy Aid  11/2/2007 Global Security: "There is a growing debate, inside and outside Iran, about whether millions of dollars in U.S. pro-democracy aid to Iranian dissidents is helping to build the foundations of civil society -- or giving the regime in Tehran an excuse to crack down even harder on dissident students, journalists, and other activists."

latin america

National Endowment for Destabilization? CIA Funds for Latin America in 2018  4/4/2019 teleSUR

nicaragua

The NGOisation of Nicaragua  8/15/2018 Wrong Kind of Green: "By the end of the third meeting at the end of May opposition organisations were actively encouraging a military coup. On June 1 electoral observation organisation Etica y Transparencia called on “the corresponding authorities to ensure the appearance in the courts of these two (Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo) thus-far alleged criminals” and on the Army to “ensure implementation of the prompt and necessary arrests, as well as a fair trial.” Etica y Transparenica have long received National Endowment for Democracy funding through the National Democratic Institute. In 2012 one of EyT’s leading lights made the jump in the other direction after 11 years with Etica y Transparencia. Abril Perez became a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, where she still works today."

China

WATCH: UKRAINE ON FIRE  8/21/2018 Wrong Kind of Green: "Ukraine on Fire by Igor Lopatonok provides a historical perspective for the deep divisions in the region which lead to the 2004 Orange Revolution, 2014 uprisings, and the violent overthrow of democratically elected Yanukovych. Covered by Western media as a people’s revolution, it was in fact a coup d’état scripted and staged by nationalist groups and the U.S. State Department. Investigative journalist Robert Parry reveals how U.S.-funded political NGOs and media companies have emerged since the 80s replacing the CIA in promoting America’s geopolitical agenda abroad."

NYT Conceals U.S. Control Over Anti-Russian "Pro-Democracy Nonprofit"  3/12/2016 Moon of Alabama: "But the NYT writer hides from the readers the fact that the NDI is a U.S. government financed organization. It is a "nonprofit organization" in the same sense that the U.S. Armed Forces are a "nonprofit organization". The NDI has been involved throughout the years in dozens of right-wing "regime change" coups. Its direct parent organization is the U.S. National Endowment of Democracy:"

Russia Challenges America’s Orwellian NED  7/31/2015 Counterpunch: "The National Endowment for Democracy’s (NED) duplicitous mission statement indicates a “dedicat(ion) to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.” Its practices are polar opposite – a State Department-funded agency created to undermine democracy wherever it exists."

How ‘Free Markets’ Defame ‘Democracy’  3/12/2015 Consortium News: "Currently, one of the big U.S. complaints against Russia is that it requires foreign-funded NGOs that seek to influence policy decisions to register as “foreign agents.” The New York Times and other Western publications have cited this 2012 law as proof that Russia has become a dictatorship, while ignoring the fact that the Russians modeled their legislation after a U.S. law known as the “Foreign Agent Registration Act.” So, it’s okay for the U.S. to label people who are paid by foreign entities to influence U.S. policies as “foreign agents” – and to imprison people who fail to register – but not for Russia to do the same. A number of these NGOs in Russia and elsewhere also are not “independent” entities but instead are financed by the U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development."

United States

USAID and Wall Street: Conflicts, Coups, and Conquest https://journal-neo.org/2017/11/16/chto-skry-vaetsya-za-ponyatiem-svoboda-torgovli-po-amerikanski/  11/16/2017 NEO: "Nearly a century ago large corporate interests already possessed full control over the mechanisms of American governance, determining its domestic and foreign policy, and readily using the nation’s military might for their own personal gain across the globe. The arrangement has not disappeared over time. It has simply evolved."

Reagan Documents Shed Light on U.S. ‘Meddling’  9/13/2017 Consortium News: "The newly declassified memos from the latter half of 1982 marked an ad hoc period of transition between the CIA scandals, which peaked in the 1970s, and the creation of more permanent institutions to carry out these semi-secretive functions, particularly the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which was created in 1983."

How the US Funds Dissent against Latin American Governments  3/12/2015 teleSUR: "In many ways the NED resembles previous CIA efforts in the 1950s, 60s and 70s to provide mostly public money for secret operations aimed to bolster pro-U.S. governments and movements abroad. In South America for example, between 1975 and 1978 the U.S. helped with the creation and implementation of Operation Condor. The U.S. provided right-wing dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador with technical and military support for the goal of hunting down and killing political opponents. Some estimate that Operation Condor killed between 60,000 and 80,000 people. In 1986, the then president of the NED, Carl Gershman, explained to the New York Times, “We should not have to do this kind of work covertly … It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the C.I.A. We saw that in the 60s, and that's why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that's why the endowment was created.” "

Inter American Press Association  9/24/2009 Source Watch: "IAPA stands ready, with all its hundreds of cooperating member newspapers, to scream "Marxist Threat to Free Press" if any attempt is made by the target government to restrict the flow of hostile propaganda. In 1969 the CIA had five agents working as media executives at El Mercurio, all of whom in subsequent years were elevated to the Board of Directors of IAPA. The owner of El Mercurio was made head of the Freedom of the Press committee, and later President. IAPA bylaws permitted only working owners to be members, so the bylaws were changed to accommodate him. Then many of the CIA operatives at Copley News Service were made members of the Board of Directors of IAPA. Immediately before the campaign to oust socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley, Jamaica Daily Gleaner publisher Oliver Clarke was added to the Executive Committee; he has now been promoted to Treasurer. At the last annual convention in San Diego, IAPA elevated Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, Jr., to its Board of Directors. At that time he was not an editor or publisher of La Prensa, but the CIA needed him because he had the same name as his martyred father. After his elevation he was belatedly made Assistant Director of La Prensa, and when he was recently added to the IAPA Executive Committee, La Prensa began carrying the IAPA membership credential in its masthead. At the last IAPA meeting in Rio de Janeiro in October, speeches, including those by Vice-President Bush, were dominated by alarmist references to the situation of the press in Nicaragua. Obviously the owner of a conservative newspaper in Latin America does not need CIA money to be against a socialist government. The assistance provided by the CIA is primarily technical, not financial. Without CIA help, the local newspaper's opposition would be openly stated on the editorial page in language reflecting the ideology of the local conservative elite. That would be ideological warfare, not psychological warfare. But the CIA is not concerned, in these operations, with local ideology; it is concentrating on the use of its bag of technological dirty tricks. One of these tricks is disinformation.[2] "

Adhesión de la IGLESIA REFORMADA EVANGELICA MISIONERA a UnoAmérica  9/22/2009 UnoAmérica: UnoAmerica seria un apéndice de la Fundación Libertad, financiada por la NED y al Faes de José María Aznar, según la prensa oficialista hondureña

NED Articles  6/5/2009 International Endowment for Democracy: The National Endowment for Hypocrisy Democracy

Change and Regime Change - What the 2008 Democratic Landslide Means for the National Endowment for Democracy  3/1/2009 Narco News: "... the biggest reason that it makes sense to close the NED is that, even under the best of circumstances, details about and the true nature of NED activities remain hidden. Its very structure is anti-democratic, no matter what the name says."

Afro-Latinos in Latin America and Considerations for U.S. Policy  11/21/2008 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON DC CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE: "The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), funded by Congress since 1983, plans and administers grants to promote pluralism and democratic governance in more than 90 countries around the world. The primary focus of these organizations is to foster participation of citizens in their national political systems. Between FY2002 and FY2008, NED provided more than $1.7 million in grants to organizations working with Afro- Latinos in Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Peru. Two of its largest grantees have been the Association of Youth Groups Freedom, which supports Afro-Colombian citizen participation in local and national politics, and the League of Displaced Women, which supports training and leadership programs for displaced Afro-Colombian and indigenous women. NED has also provided some $297,066 to support AfroAmerica XXI, an organization based in Colombia that helps promote the political participation of Afro-Latino organizations throughout the region. In FY2008, NED sponsored programs related to Afro-Latinos in Cuba, Ecuador, and Peru."

NED 2005 Africa Programs  5/2/2008 NED

NED Grants for FY 2005  1/1/2006 International Endowment for Democracy: [publication date approximate] "In the Name of Democracy researcher Anthony Fenton received this information (below) from a NED program officer in December. According to NED spokesperson Jane Riley Jacobson, it was not intended to be made public (all or portions thereof, in conjunction with the publication of their annual report) until May 2006. NB: Special DOS (Department of State) Funds are provided in addition to NED's yearly appropriation and are to be used in a specific, and often priority, country. In LAC in 2005, Cuba is the only country for which NED receives special funds. They review Cuba proposals following their standard guidelines and procedures; the only difference is the funding source (DOS rather than NED)."

National Endowment for Democracy: Paying to Make Enemies of America  10/11/2003 AntiWar: by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) - "The misnamed National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is nothing more than a costly program that takes US taxpayer funds to promote favored politicians and political parties abroad. What the NED does in foreign countries, through its recipient organizations the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), would be rightly illegal in the United States. The NED injects "soft money" into the domestic elections of foreign countries in favor of one party or the other. Imagine what a couple of hundred thousand dollars will do to assist a politician or political party in a relatively poor country abroad. It is particularly Orwellian to call US manipulation of foreign elections "promoting democracy." How would Americans feel if the Chinese arrived with millions of dollars to support certain candidates deemed friendly to China? Would this be viewed as a democratic development?"

Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy  6/1/2000 World Traveler: from Rogue State, by William Blum, published in 2000 - "The idea was that the NED would do somewhat overtly what the CIA had been doing covertly for decades, and thus, hopefully, eliminate the stigma associated with CIA covert activities. It was a masterpiece. Of politics, of public relations and of cynicism. Thus it was that in 1983, the National Endowment for Democracy was set up to "support democratic institutions throughout the world through private, nongovernmental efforts". Notice the "nongovernmental"-part of the image, part of the myth. In actuality, virtually every penny of its funding comes from the federal government, as is clearly indicated in the financial statement in each issue of its annual report. NED likes to refer to itself as an NGO (non-governmental organization) because this helps to maintain a certain credibility abroad that an official US government agency might not have. But NGO is the wrong category. NED is a GO. Allen Weinstein, who helped draft the legislation establishing NED, was quite candid when he said in 1991: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." In effect, the CIA has been laundering money through NED."

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY OF US  4/13/2000 South Asia Analysis Group: "The matter was further examined in 1981-82 by the American Political Foundation's Democracy Programme Study and Research Group and, finally, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was born under a Congressional enactment of 1983 as a "non-profit, non-governmental, bipartisan, grant-making organisation to help strengthen democratic institutions around the world." Though it is projected as an NGO, it is actually a quasi-governmental organisation because till 1994 it was run exclusively from funds voted by the Congress (average of about US $ 16 million per annum in the 1980s and now about US $ 30 million) as part of the budget of the US Information Agency (USIA). Since 1994, it has been accepting contributions from the private sector too to supplement the congressional appropriations. Thirty per cent of the budgetary allocations constitute the discretionary fund of the NED to be distributed directly by it to overseas organisations and the balance is distributed through what are called four "core organisations"---the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the Free Trade Union Institute (FTUI)."

Venezuela

Inside America’s meddling machine: NED, the US-funded org interfering in elections around the globe  8/20/2018 Gray Zone: ""...She was also made a media fellow by the Oslo Freedom Forum, an operation run by Venezuelan-American oligarch Thor Halvorssen that weaponizes human rights in the service of neoconservative foreign policy objectives... As for Latin America, the legislation stipulates that "not less than $33,000,000 shall be made available for democracy programs for Venezuela." By contrast, the legislation appropriates $461.3 million for Colombia, a country which has seen massacre after massacre and scores of political assassinations — with more than 290 human rights activists killed in 2020 alone. While 20 percent of the funds are not releasable until Colombia shows it is "taking effective steps to hold accountable perpetrators of gross violations of human rights in a manner consistent with international law," given Washington’s record in the country, it will likely give the green light regardless of the facts on the ground."

Venezuela derrotó a Gene Sharp y lo dejó como polvo cósmico  1/9/2017 Aporrea: "Intervienen entre otras organizaciones norteamericanas de “exportación” de la democracia a través de las revoluciones de colores: la USAID (Unite States Agency for National Developement), la NED (National Endowment for Democracy), el IRI (International Republican Institute), el NDI (National Democratic Institute for International Affairs), Freedom House y OSI (Open Society Institute). Todos estos entes, son meros centros de conspiración y financiamiento para derrocar gobiernos que no sigan los lineamientos del Status Quo del Imperio."

Venezuela on April 11: The 2002 Coup to the 2015 Economic War  4/14/2015 teleSUR: "At the time of the 2002 coup, the U.S. government admitted that it had financed and met with the coup leaders and organizations involved. This dynamic has continued since then, and in fact, funding to anti-government groups has increased under the Obama administration. This year, the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) and the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) has an increased budget destined for Venezuelan opposition “youth” and “civil society” groups. This is of course part of the ongoing attempted coup against the Venezuelan government which began in 1999 and which has been advanced through all conceivable means - economic strangulation, street violence, military conspiracies - to name but a few."

How the US Funds Dissent against Latin American Governments  3/12/2015 teleSUR: "“The NED (and USAID) are entities linked with the U.S. state department, but they operate in tandem with a whole of other organizations,” said Chossudovsky. In May 2010 the Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue released their report “Assessing Democracy Assistance in Venezuela,” which revealed that in addition to NED and USAID funding, a broad range of private and European-based foundations funded opposition-aligned nongovernmental organizations in the country with some US$40-50 million annually."

The AFL-CIO’s Covert Ops in Venezuela - The Corrupting Influence of the NED  11/9/2011 CounterPunch: "It is not publicly known what the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center – which receives nearly all of its funding from federal grants ($28 million out of its total annual budget of $30 million), including from such sources as the NED, the U.S. State Department and the USAID – is currently doing in Venezuela."

Documents Confirm U.S. Plans Against Venezuela  2/1/2011 Z Magazine: by Eva Golinger - "A substantial portion of the more than 1,600 State Department documents WikiLeaks has published recently refer to the ongoing efforts of U.S. diplomacy to isolate and counter the Venezuelan government. Since Hugo Chavez won the presidency for the first time in 1998, Washington has engaged in numerous efforts to overthrow him, including a failed coup d'etat in April 2002, an oil industry strike that same year, worldwide media campaigns, and various electoral interventions. The State Department has also used its funding agencies, USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to channel millions of dollars annually to anti-Chavez NGOs, political parties, journalists, and media organizations in Venezuela, who have been working to undermine the Chavez administration and force him from power."

Eva Golinger: EEUU otorga más de 6.4 millones de dólares para la oposición en paises de la ALBA  8/2/2010 Aporrea: "Educación Cívica (NOMBRE CENSURADO): $21.575 dólares para fortalecer la capacidad de mujeres afro-descendientes para promover sus derechos y participar en las decisiones en sus comunidades."

NED Report: International Agencies Fund Venezuelan Opposition with $40-50 Million Annually  6/21/2010 Venezuela Analysis: "The authors of the revealing report recognize that “international assistance” for political groups in Venezuela did not begin until 2002, after the Chavez government began implementing a series of major reforms. “The presence of large international donors engaged in democracy promotion, particularly the donors based in the US (including the Carter Center, the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Open Society Institute (OSI), the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and multilateral institutions (OAS and EC) is closely linked to the Chavez presidency… Their political engagement began in the aftermath of the new Bolivarian Constitution, approved by popular consultation in 1999, which was the starting point of Chavez’s Revolution and Socialism of the 21st Century… Many civil society organizations emerged in 2002 – the year of the attempted coup…”"

NED Report: International Agencies Fund Venezuelan Opposition with $40-50 Million Annually  6/21/2010 Venezuela Analysis: "A revealing report published in May 2010 by the FRIDE Institute, a Spanish think tank, prepared with funding from the World Movement for Democracy (a project of the National Endowment for Democracy, or NED), has disclosed that international agencies are funding the Venezuelan opposition with a whopping $40-50 million USD annually. This exorbitant amount of financing well exceeds the approximately $15 million USD previously believed to have been channeled to Venezuelan opposition groups via the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the NED."

Obama authorizes covert economic war against Venezuela  1/18/2010 Wayne Madsen Report on Milfuegos: "WMR's intelligence sources have reported that the Obama administration has authorized an economic war against Venezuela in order to destabilize the government of President Hugo Chavez. After a successful coup against Chavez ally, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, and the very thin 51-49 percent electorial win by Chile's billionaire right-winger Sebastian Pinera on January 17, a buoyed Obama White House has given a green light for political operatives in Venezuela, many of whom operate under the cover of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to set the stage for massive street demonstrations to protest Chavez's devaluation of the bolivar, Venezuela's currency… The Obama administration's assault os two-fold: economic and political. Pressure is being applied against the gasoline chain Citgo, which is owned by the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, and Venezuelan investment favorability ratings. Politically, the U.S. is overtly and covertly funneling money to anti-Chavez groups through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and groups affiliated with George Soros."

Bautizado el libro "USAID, NED y CIA. La agresión permanente"  11/21/2009 Venezuelan Government

Beware Venezuela, Here Come the Democratic Hawks  11/13/2006 Venezuela Analysis: "With the Democrats now taking over Congress, the question is: what will the change in leadership mean for U.S. policy towards Venezuela? While it's heartening that some progressive legislators will be headed to Washington, unfortunately some hawkish figures stand to influence Latin America policy. Unless he is upended by Representative Howard Berman, Tom Lantos will become the Chair of the House International Relations Committee… The bad blood between the Venezuelan regime and Lantos goes back to 2004. Lantos, along with fellow lawmakers such as Republican Henry Hyde, sent a letter to Chavez complaining that the Venezuelan government was abusing its power when it accused Sumate, an opposition group, of conspiring with the U.S. to topple the Chavez regime. In the letter, Lantos and others admit that Sumate had been financed by the U.S. taxpayer funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) but that this financing would help encourage Venezuelan democracy. Lantos's letter elicited a sharp rejoinder from Venezuela's ambassador to the U.S., Bernardo Alvarez, who commented that the U.S. government was inconsistent when it came to democracy, and that the U.S. was the only country in the hemisphere to recognize the illegitimate Carmona regime which came to power in a brief coup d'etat in April 2002. Things deteriorated further last year when Lantos was allegedly refused entry into Venezuela and was stopped at the airport. Lantos had gone to the South American country as part of a high-level delegation headed by Republican Henry Hyde, the same legislator who had defended NED the year before."

US Works to Delegitimize Venezuela's December Presidential Election  10/28/2006 Znet: "Venezuela's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) and Vice Foreign Minister Jorge Valero told us, "The enemy is not the opposition but Mr. Bush. Millions of dollars have been channeled into the opposition parties and leaders, not only formally through the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) and AID (US Agency for International Development) but informally. What right does the US have to fund parties in other countries when that is illegal if done in the US?" And Jose Albornoz, General Secretary of the Patria Para Todos party and member of National Assembly where he chairs the Committee for the Investigation of NGO Funding added, "Under Clinton we talked. When Bush came in the decision seemed to be to get rid of Chavez rather than work out our differences." The issue of US military intentions is not far from the thoughts of many Venezuelans. The US war against Iraq is intensely unpopular across the political spectrum. Freelance journalist Gregory Wilpert said many members of the Chavez government "from the top on down" are convinced the US will invade Venezuela. Several people we met with said that the US either participated in or knew in advance about the short-lived coup of April 11, 2002. Golinger told us that the US is building a new military base on Curacao, the Dutch colony off Venezuela's coast and near the oil state of Zulia. She speculated that one possible outcome of the December election would be for the US to refuse to recognize Chavez' election and for Rosales to go back to Zulia and refuse to recognize the central government. There is already a secession movement in Zulia. With US forces in Colombia, on Curacao, and nearly constant navy war games in the Caribbean, it is possible that Venezuela could be stripped of its major oil producing state."

NED $$$ Out of Venezuela and Haiti  3/6/2006 Hands Off Venezuela: "The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) channels money on behalf of the US government through four core institutes: the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Solidarity Center (AFL-CIO) and the Center for International Private Enterprise (Chambers of Commerce). Under the guise of “spreading democracy” around the world, the NED has used these funds for everything from manipulating elections to coordinating coups against popular governments opposed to the domination of US corporate and military interests and the poverty and exploitation they impose on the world’s population."

The Súmate Case - How the NED Violates Sovereignty and Self-Determination in Venezuela  3/3/2006 Vheadlines: published 7/05

Eva Golinger: NED on the offensive in Venezuela  3/3/2006 Vheadlines: published 11/04, background to the current controversy about Golinger's charges that Afro-Venezuelans are taking NED money

Afro-Venezuelans denounce divide-and-conquer scheme by Willie Thompson  3/1/2006 SF Bay View: "Eve Golinger-Moncada, a Venezuelan-American attorney and author of “The Chavez Code,” is reported by Afro-Venezuelans to be denouncing Afro- and Indigenous Venezuelans on radio and television in Caracas. She alleges that they are taking money from U.S. government agencies – NED, IRI and USAID – to destabilize and overthrow the Bolivarian Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez. The reports, brought back from the 2006 World Social Forum recently held in Venezuela and received in emails, are deeply troubling to both Afro-Venezuelans and African North Americans. Golinger-Moncada is said not to have named any specific Afro- or Indigenous-Venezuelan groups or organizations. Afro-Venezuelans believe she is trying to divide the Afro- and Indigenous Venezuelans from the Bolivarian movement so as to aid the real opponents of the Venezuelan government for personal gain. In 2004, Golinger-Moncada published a list of organizations receiving funding from the U.S., but it isn’t clear that they included Afro- and Indigenous Venezuelan organizations. It is important to know that Congressman Gregory Meeks of the Congressional Black Caucus is a member of the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) board of directors."

NED Targets Venezuela  5/1/2004 Z Magazine: by Eva Golinger - "One of the recipients of U.S. taxpayer money is a Venezuelan company called Sumate, the organization that provided much of the logistical support for the signature collection process in the current recall campaign. Between September 2003 and September 2004, Sumate received more than $50,000 from the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy."

As Turmoil Deepens in Venezuela, Questions Regarding NED Activities Remain Unanswered  2/15/2004 Transnacionale: published 12/02.

Declassified Documents Back Venezuelan President’s Claim of US Aid to Opposition Groups  2/10/2004 Venezuelanalysis.com: "The documents discovered through Bigwood’s FOIA requests on Venezuela reveal a consistent pattern of funding from various U.S. agencies and entities, such as the Department of State and the National Endowment for Democracy, to several known anti-Chávez groups in Venezuela. One of these groups, Sumate, received USD$53,400 for “Electoral Education” during the period September 2003 – September 2004. The funds awarded to Sumate were, according to the NED grant, to “train citizens throughout Venezuela in the electoral process and to promote participation in a recall referendum.” Sumate is the organization that led an unapproved referendum drive back in February 2003, attempting to remove President Chavez before half of his term, which is not permitted by Venezuelan law. Sumate claimed to have collected “27 million signatures in one day”, yet it was later discovered that a majority of these signatures were gathered through fraudulent means, including photocopied from bank records and credit card receipts."

Our Gang in Venezuela?  7/18/2002 The Nation

Viva Vin Weber  5/15/2002 City Pages, Minneapolis - St, Paul: "Weber, a power player in GOP political circles who retired from Congress in 1993, has served as chairman of the board for the obscure but influential National Endowment for Democracy since January 2001. The NED, a private nonprofit agency, was founded in the early Eighties with the express goal of fostering democratic ideals abroad...In all, some $877,000 in NED funds has been distributed in Venezuela in the past year. Most of those funds were funneled to opposition movements by the four NED affiliates, including the International Republican Institute (IRI). The day after Chavez's removal, IRI President George Folsom--an advisor to former President George H.W. Bush--issued a statement praising the coup, saying, "The Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country." Defending it against the 60% of the people who voted for Chavez, not once but twice?

Links

NED funds for Cuba, 2015 - www.ned.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean/cuba-2015

CIA y USAID, Cambios e Cuba

National Endowment for Democracy - home page

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_Democracy

www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Endowment_for_Democracy

What is NED? Alliance for Globa Justice

Democracy Digest
www.demdigest.net/blog/tags/national-endowment-for-democracy

USAID Cuba page

November 2006 GAO report on US Democracy Assistance for Cuba -- www.gao.gov/new.items/d07147.pdf

Operation Mockingbird
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America by Hugh Wilford

In 1967 the magazine Ramparts ran an exposé revealing that the Central Intelligence Agency had been secretly funding and managing a wide range of citizen front groups intended to counter communist influence around the world. In addition to embarrassing prominent individuals caught up, wittingly or unwittingly, in the secret superpower struggle for hearts and minds, the revelations of 1967 were one of the worst operational disasters in the history of American intelligence and presaged a series of public scandals from which the CIA's reputation has arguably never recovered.

CIA official Frank Wisner called the operation his "mighty Wurlitzer," on which he could play any propaganda tune. In this illuminating book, Hugh Wilford provides the first comprehensive account of the clandestine relationship between the CIA and its front organizations. Using an unprecedented wealth of sources, he traces the rise and fall of America's Cold War front network from its origins in the 1940s to its Third World expansion during the 1950s and ultimate collapse in the 1960s.

Covering the intelligence officers who masterminded the CIA's fronts as well as the involved citizen groups--émigrés, labor, intellectuals, artists, students, women, Catholics, African Americans, and journalists--Wilford provides a surprising analysis of Cold War society that contains valuable lessons for our own age of global conflict.

Click here for pricing & to order ==> and to see the reviews.