Washington, Mar 6 (Prensa Latina) The United States government decided today to cancel programs used for its so-called “promotion of democracy” in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, but in reality it will leave those objectives that have accompanied its foreign policy for years orphaned.
According to information released on Thursday, the measure is the result of a review by the State Department which concluded that the projects did not respond to the “national interest” of the United States.
Among those included in the cuts are the International Republican Institute (IRI), which lost most of its programs funded by the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the National Democratic Institute.
The so-called independent press in Cuba has also received a coup de grace, as the Trump administration has called certain aid programs unnecessary, including a $1.5 million subsidy from the American taxpayer’s pocket, supposedly intended to strengthen journalism on the island.
During a Senate hearing Wednesday examining the advancement of U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, Florida Sen. Rick Scott invoked some current views on foreign aid among Trump administration officials.
It turns out that they are asking how the money spent on programs in the countries mentioned above that are primarily aimed at regime change can be justified if in the end it is not achieved.
Scott admitted that he cannot get “excited” about the funds spent on “foreign aid because something could happen” (the change that never came). Although he said it in different words, at the end of the day the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are still standing.
rc/dfm
