The Department of State has decided to cancel foreign aid programs to support activists in some dictatorial countries, raising serious concerns among these groups.
Projects to support political prisoners in Cuba, religious groups opposing Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, and activists fighting Nicolas Maduro’s seizure of power in Venezuela, in particular, were canceled after a State Department review concluded that they were not in the “national interest” of the United States.
The aid in question was administered by the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit group linked to the GOP. Of the Institute’s 95 programs, only three were not permanently canceled, namely those involving Venezuela.
However, even these plans were put on standby, following an earlier State Department directive promoted to implement President Donald Trump’s broader executive order to freeze all foreign aid funds for 90 days.
Cuba’s independent media have also been hit hard by the cuts. Legacy broadcasters such as Miami-based Cubanet have lost USAID funding, while others that depend on the National Endowment for Democracy find themselves at a standstill. In the past, these media outlets have played a key role in exposing human rights violations and other government abuses not covered by state media that have occurred on the island.
According to insiders, International Republican Institute President Daniel Twining said that the new cuts will only benefit the dictators of the countries involved. According to the latter, moreover, the new provisions risk losing the network of contacts built up during years of work in these nations and leaving local activists without any kind of protection.
Other insiders, however, fear that the cancellation of these foreign aid programs could expose more opposition figures, such as Venezuelan María Corina Machado, to government violence.
“It’s unthinkable that House Republicans just stand by as Trump guts decades of investments in Cuban and Venezuelan democracy programs,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, “I’ve fought my whole career to promote human rights and hold these brutal regimes accountable. I’ll continue to fight to restore these funds that protect dissidents, break censorship and deliver hope.”
