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CUBAN LIBRARIES SOLIDARITY GROUP PRESS RELEASE Freedom House - don't believe the hype28 March 2004 In a communique issued by IFEX on 23 March 2004 it was reported that: "On 18 March, 2004, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House issued a joint statement with five other U.S.-based human rights groups, condemning the continued imprisonment of human rights activists, independent journalists, librarians and democracy advocates." If you visit the Freedom House website you are told that "Freedom House, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization, is a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world." There is also a list of organisations which fund Freedom House. These include the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Both USAID and the NED receive funding from the US government to support " pro-democracy" activities in Cuba. In 2003 Washington gave $6 million to USAID and $1 million to NED, a congressionally funded organisation founded during the Cold War to finance subversion in the former Soviet bloc. NED pays the salaries of "dissident librarians and journalists". For example, journalists are paid $15 per feature for CubaNet, a Miami-based online news service, which also receives NED support. Payments for "independent journalists" articles last year came from a $41,000 grant from the NED, according to Cuba Net editor Rosa Berre. So the US government funds USAID and NED and these organisations fund CubaNet and Freedom House. How, then, can Freedom House claim that it is a " nonpartisan organisation"? Similar claims are made by the so-called "Friends of Cuban Libraries" (sic) and yet their main spokesman, Robert Kent, has been paid to travel to Cuba by Freedom House, and the Centre For A Free Cuba. The Centre for A Free Cuba, the largest recipient of US funds for Cuba projects, spent $20,000 in NED money for direct aid to Cubans in the past year, and in July 2003 received another $55,000 for the same purpose. A review of US aid programs by Newsday Magazine, published in the US in November, shows that Washington poured $32.3 million in 2003 alone into so-called "pro-democracy" activities in Cuba. Increased support for "dissidents" in Cuba will become a cornerstone of US strategy for regime change on the island, according to several Bush administration officials. John Pateman Cuban Libraries Solidarity Group |