Alan Gross tells all about his work in Cuba in sworn statement

[flamingdem]

http://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2013/03/alan-gross-tells-all.html

The Maryland company that sent Alan Gross to Cuba refused to tell him what other subcontractors were working on the company's Cuba project, held secret meetings without him, and wanted him to eventually target not only Cuban Jews, but "African-Cubans, women, youths and other religious groups," Gross said in a revealing sworn statement.

The statement, filed in U.S. District Court, gives the most detailed picture to date of how Gross wound up working in Cuba and what he was trying to accomplish.

Gross and his wife, Judith, are suing the company, a federal contractor called DAI, and the U.S. government for $60 million, saying they sent Gross to Cuba "without even the most basic education, training, or warnings, which ultimately resulted in his detention in Cuba."

Gross said he was excited when DAI asked him to take part in the project, but wasn't close to anyone at the company and recalls one official ordering him to remove an Obama sticker from his laptop.

.. more at link

[dipsydoodle]

1. I'm trying to figure

what the significance was of contacting "African Cubans" who are no different from any other Cubans.

[flamingdem]

2. Afro-Cubans tend to be more supportive of the government

for historical reasons, thus it's a coup to turn them or appear to turn them into dissidents. The right wing in Miami loves to work this angle. Meanwhile if Afrocubans come to Miami they experience a whole new racism from the white Cubans of the historic exilio.

Even though color lines aren't as harshly drawn in Cuba as in the UK or USA there are many Cubans who identify as Afrodescendents and movements have formed around the separation of their identity though the government has promoted Cuban identity over race.

[Catherina]

3. Appearances like FlamingDem noted.

Their favorite grpups to target for destabilizing regimes are minority groups that will elicit even more sympathy from the world and where the neoliberals can point and say "SEE, even the people they said they did the most for don't want him around".

The favorites are indigenous groups, students and labor leadership. Remember the indigenous protests against Evo Morales that the capitalist news trumpeted for weeks in the US, the UK, Canada and France (that I know of at least)? Even the Guardian, one of the better papers, went in on the act in its own sneaky, water-carrying way.

Bolivian road protest threatens to flatten Evo Morales's popularity
Amazon road protesters descend on La Paz as indigenous peoples turn on their one-time saviour

Tom Phillips and Mattia Cabitza in La Paz
The Guardian, Monday 10 October 2011 17.30 BS


Marchers advance towards La Paz, Bolivia, in a protest against a planned Amazon highway. Photograph: Juan Karita/AP


He came to office vowing to be a standard bearer for the dispossessed and excluded of one of South America's poorest nations. "The people are finally in power," Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, declared after his historic 2005 election victory.

But, nearly six years on, much of that hope has turned to recrimination as one-time supporters question Morales's true commitment and fears grow that social and environmental issues are taking a back seat to economic growth.

This week, more than 1,000 protesters are expected to arrive in Bolivia's main city, La Paz, to rally against plans for a controversial Amazon road through indigenous lands and voice concern that Morales, an Aymara Indian, is turning his back on the indigenous cause.

...

Late last month, Morales announced a temporary suspension of construction work, after police clashes with protesters that prompted widespread criticism from human rights groups and politicians, even within Morales's own party.

"It seems a contradiction that an indigenous president rejects the rights of indigenous peoples, and that a president who talks across the world in defence of Mother Earth is now pushing for the construction of a road that will harm the environment," said Franklin Pareja, a political scientist from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/bolivian-road-protest-evo-morales

In Latin America, USAID has long earned a reputation of an organization whose offices are, in fact, intelligence centers scheming to undermine legitimate governments in a number of the continent’s countries. The truth that USAID hosts CIA and US Defense Intelligence Agency operatives is not deeply hidden, as those seem to have played a role in every Latin American coup, providing financial, technical, and ideological support to respective oppositions. USAID also typically seeks engagement with the local armed forces and law-enforcement agencies, recruiting within them agents ready to lend a hand to the opposition when the opportunity arises.

...

USAID is known to have contributed to the recent failed coup in Ecuador, during which president R. Correa narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. Elite police forces heavily sponsored by the US and the media which made use of the liberal free speech legislation to smear Correa were the key actors in the outbreak. Subsequently, it took Correa serious efforts to get a revised media code approved in the parliament contrary to the USAID-lobbied resistance.

Several bids to displace the government of Evo Morales clearly employed the USAID operative potential in Bolivia. According to journalist and author Eva Golinger, USAID poured at least $85m into destabilizing the regime in the country. Initially, the US hoped to achieve the desired result by entraining the separatists from the predominantly white Santa Cruz district. When the plan collapsed, USAID switched to courting the Indian communities with which the ecology-oriented NGOs started to get in touch a few years before. Disorienting accounts were fed to the Indians that the construction of an expressway across their region would leave the communities landless, and the Indian protest marches to the capital that followed ate away at the public standing of Morales. It transpired shortly that many of the marches including those staged by the TIPNIS group, had been coordinated by the US embassy. The job was done by embassy official Eliseo Abelo, a USAID curator for the Bolivian indigenous population. His phone conversations with the march leaders were intercepted by the Bolivian counter-espionage agency and made public, so that he had to escape from the country while the US diplomatic envoy to Bolivia complained about the phone tapping.

In June 2012, foreign ministers of the ALBA bloc countries passed a resolution on USAID. It read: «Citing foreign aid planning and coordination as a pretext, USAID openly meddles in sovereign countries’ domestic affairs, sponsoring NGOs and protest activities intended to destabilize legitimate governments which are unfavorable from Washington’s perspective. Documents released from the US Department of State archives carry evidence that financial support had been provided to parties and groups oppositional to the governments of ALBA countries, a practice tantamount to undisguised and audacious interference on the US behalf. In most ALBA countries, USAID operates via its extensive NGO networks, which it runs outside of the due legal framework, and also illicitly funds media and political groups. We are convinced that our countries have no need for external financial support to maintain the democracy established by Latin American and Caribbean nations, or for externally guided organizations which try to weaken or sideline our government institutions». The ministers called the ALBA leaderships to immediately deport USAID representatives who threaten the sovereignty and political stability of the countries where they work. The resolution was signed by Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/usaid-spying-in-latin-america/5306679

It's not for nothing that Bolivia, Venezuela and other ALBA countries threw out USAID. In Bolivia's case, USAID was implicated up to the neck in the 2008 attempted coup against him.

In Bolivia, USAID is clearly involved in every destabilization outbreak. Having obtained evidence that the US embassy was in the process of arranging for a coup, E. Morales’ government responded harshly and, in September, 2008 ordered US ambassador Phillip Goldberg, who stayed in touch with local separatists and potential color revolution leaders, out of the country. In November, 2008, Bolivia also shut out DEA for meddling in its domestic affairs and leveling allegations of friendship with drug cartels at Bolivian government members, top law-enforcers, and army command. According to WikiLeaks, in 2007-2008 the US Department of State dished out a total of $97m to opponents of E. Morales’ government. A terrorist group which came from Europe to assassinate Morales was neutralized in a Santa Cruz hotel in April, 2009. Bolivians with USAID connections were among the group’s aides and fled to the US when an investigation into the terrorist plot was opened. In August, 2011, the Bolivian administration said that USAID would have to withdraw from the country, but, judging by the current media coverage, Bolivia later adopted a softer position and limited its demands to the US embassy’s launching a probe into the unfriendly conduct of some of its diplomats. Predictably, results of the probe remain unknown up to date.

http://wrongkindofgreen.org/2012/02/25/us-subverting-latin-america-bolivia-and-venezuela-top-targets-of-financially-backed-myriads-of-ngos/

“Liberal democracy clearly favors the economic arrangements that foster globalization, mainly the market economy and an open international trading system …. Globalization has fostered democratization, and democratization has fostered globalization. Moreover, both trends generally have furthered American interests and contributed to the strengthening of American power ... It is worth emphasizing that the international order that sustains globalization is underpinned by American military predominance.” -- Marc Plattner, NED Vice President

[dipsydoodle]

4. There are no issues as such in Cuba itself.

They've got every shade from black to white and they all get on just fine . I'm saying that from observation. Racial issues are a meaningless expression there - its beautiful.

Thanks for the above stuff - they keep a close eye on USAID in Cuba.

[Catherina]

5. I agree with you that they are, or better yet

have become meaningless since the revolution, but the US, along with the Miama vultures, fails to grasp that lol. And you can bet your bottom dollar that had they been able to start something and stage their propaganda about the uprising against Castro *by the people he helped the most*, very few Americans would have grasped that either.

[joshcryer]

6. Racism in Cuba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Cuba

The Cuban bloggers have many stories to tell from the idea that black women are ideal as sexual pieces of meat but that Cuban males would not want to marry a black woman. To the oft cited data that 90% of Cuban prisoners are black (unverifiable since Cuba does not release prisoner demographics). The most appalling rumor (unverifiable, the word of a blogger living in Cuba) is that Raul Catros' son (Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro) had a black female student ejected from his high school classroom simply because he felt he was above her.

Havana Times (a neutral if pro-Cuban outlet) has an article about racism in Cuba and offers solutions.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Thoroughly appreciate the information in your links. Thank you. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

7. Here's a good illustration of Cuba racism vs. Miami racism, from the NY Times.

It was widely read when it came out, and it continues to be one of the best illustrations I've seen pointing out the gulf of difference in the two places. Remember the "exiles" who rushed to Miami immediately after the revolution represented the very wealthy, upper income level of Cuban society, the landowners, business owners, and that group has ALWAYS been identified as extremely, viciously racist, which most of us knew long ago, LONG ago. They brought their hatred to Miami where it flourishes, unchanged in its original ugly state.

June 5, 2000

Best of Friends, Worlds Apart

Joel Ruiz Is Black.
Achmed Valdés Is White.
In America They Discovered It Matters.

By MIRTA OJITO


[font size=1]
Librado Romero/
The New York Times

Achmed Valdés, top, and Joel
Ruiz, bottom. In America, they
discovered race matters.
[/font]
MIAMI -- Havana, sometime before 1994: As dusk descends on the quaint seaside village of Guanabo, two young men kick a soccer ball back and forth and back and forth across the sand. The tall one, Joel Ruiz, is black. The short, wiry one, Achmed Valdés, is white.

They are the best of friends.

Miami, January 2000: Mr. Valdés is playing soccer, as he does every Saturday, with a group of light-skinned Latinos in a park near his apartment. Mr. Ruiz surprises him with a visit, and Mr. Valdés, flushed and sweating, runs to greet him. They shake hands warmly. But when Mr. Valdés darts back to the game, Mr. Ruiz stands off to the side, arms crossed, looking on as his childhood friend plays the game that was once their shared joy. Mr. Ruiz no longer plays soccer. He prefers basketball with black Latinos and African-Americans from his neighborhood.

The two men live only four miles apart, not even 15 minutes by car. Yet they are separated by a far greater distance, one they say they never envisioned back in Cuba.
In ways that are obvious to the black man but far less so to the white one, they have grown apart in the United States because of race.

For the first time, they inhabit a place where the color of their skin defines the outlines of their lives -- where they live, the friends they make, how they speak, what they wear, even what they eat.

"It's like I am here and he is over there," Mr. Ruiz said. "And we can't cross over to the other's world."

More:
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/race/060500ojito-cuba.html

[flamingdem]

9. I was thinking about that article

and the picture it painted. I'd like to see it updated 13 years later.

The question of race in Cuba is very complex. They have very different issues there related to their history. This site has lots of references:

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/whatdoblacks.htm

[Catherina]

10. Excellent article. Thank you n/t

[joshcryer]

11. I'd rather read the bloggers on current racism.

Than a NYT writer from over a decade ago.

But I find it fascinating at the end of the article the black Cuban in America finds himself distrustful of white Cubans in America. I suspect a latent resentment was only ready to surface, from the racism he experienced back in Cuba but was propagandized to ignore.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Distrustful of the ones who treat him rudely? Old, buried race hatred in HIM?

Brilliant!