Hearings promised on Cuba aid

Hearings promised on Cuba aid

By Andrew Zajac and Gary Marx
Tribune correspondents
Published November 16, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A leading congressional critic of Bush administration
policy toward Cuba said he will hold hearings next year on a government
watchdog report critical of how federal funds are spent on a program to
promote democracy in Cuba.

"This program is a poorly administered part of a badly flawed policy,"
said Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.).

The report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office
found that a $74 million program to encourage democracy provided some
benefits to Cuba's small opposition movement, but was plagued by
questionable spending and high overhead and was badly coordinated
between the State Department and the Agency for International Development.

The money was supposed to provide humanitarian assistance funneled from
U.S. aid groups to Cuban dissidents, but the GAO found spending on
computer gaming equipment, Godiva chocolates and cashmere sweaters.

The GAO sent its findings on at least three grant recipients, who
received a total of $4.7 million, to the USAID inspector general for
further investigation.

Delahunt is positioned to call hearings because he is in line to be
chairman of the House International Relations Oversight and
Investigations Subcommittee when Democrats become the majority party in
January.

He requested the GAO report along with Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Both
are members of the House bipartisan Cuba Working Group, which advocates
an end to the U.S. government's 40-plus-year policy of squeezing Fidel
Castro's regime through economic sanctions and limits on travel. Under
President Bush, restrictions on trade and travel have been increased
beyond already tight limits set by previous administrations.

Delahunt said the democracy promotion program is only a small part of a
failed policy, but he wants to call attention to it through hearings "to
examine what we're doing with the taxpayers' dollars."

Flake said he hopes Democrats will be more aggressive in investigating
spending on Cuba than Republicans. "We've fallen down on this," he said.
"I would be surprised if the administration would say that we can
continue on like this. This is a scathing report."

Frank Hernandez, executive director of the Grupo de Apoyo a la
Democracia, a South Florida non-profit that has received about $11
million in USAID funds since 2000, said he agrees with the report's
findings that administration and oversight needs to be improved.

Hernandez said he welcomes congressional hearings.

"Bring it on," Hernandez said. "I'll show up without a problem. It's
going to be very nice if they finally get to hear our side of the story."

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azajac@tribune.com

gmarx@tribune.com

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