Years of Meddling in Cuba and Nicaragua |
CounterPunch Exclusives
CounterPunch Exclusives
Years of Meddling in Cuba and Nicaragua
Image Source: National Endowment for Democracy – CC BY-SA 4.0
The head of a prominent U.S.-funded nongovernmental organization has recently acknowledged years of involvement in subversive operations in Cuba and Nicaragua, some in defiance of executive policies.
Damon Wilson, president of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), confirmed in testimony before Congress last month that his organization has spent years supporting dissidents who are seeking regime change in Cuba and Nicaragua. He acknowledged that NED supported Cuban dissidents when the Obama administration was organizing a rapprochement with Cuba, and he cited numerous operations in support of Nicaraguan dissidents, including a former Nicaraguan presidential candidate.
Although Wilson insisted that NED makes its decisions in consultation with Congress and the White House, he insisted that the organization can operate independently in pursuit of its own goals. Policies such as the Obama administration’s move to normalize relations with Cuba, he explained, would not deter NED from working to change the Cuban government.
“We’re built so that there is no such thing as mission creep from one administration’s priorities to another,” Wilson said.
Since its creation in 1983 at the behest of Ronald Reagan, NED has been a major organizer of U.S. influence operations across the world. Funded by Congress but designed as a nongovernmental organization, it has worked privately to mobilize and empower political allies in other countries, often with the goal of bringing new leaders to power. NED presents its work as a way of spreading freedom and democracy.
Leaders of NED and its core institutes, including the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), have indicated that they pursue regime change by playing the long game. They have openly acknowledged efforts to change governments across the Global South, and they have speculated about bringing down the governments of powerful U.S. rivals, including China and Russia.
“We have to not give up on the possibility for democratic change in China,” Carl Gershman told Congress in 2018, when he was president of NED.
At last month’s congressional hearing, Wilson indicated that NED continues to conduct influence operations across the world, including in China, which he described as NED’s “largest program.” Wilson disclosed that NED has been active in Iran, citing efforts to deploy hundreds of Starlinks across the country, which have been used by opponents of the Iranian government to share information and organize resistance.
“It’s now one of our largest programs globally that involves both direct partners, Iranian groups, as well as our core institutes,” Wilson said.
Wilson delivered his testimony shortly before the United States and Israel directed a major military attack against Iran, all with the goal of regime change.
NED also operates in Latin America. The organization’s three largest programs in the region are in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, all targets of the Trump administration.
Wilson said little about NED’s longstanding involvement in Venezuela, a country where the Trump administration recently directed a military intervention to seize its president, but he indicated that NED remains active in Cuba and........