Desde Dentro de Cuba.

Distribuido por Cuba Free Press, Inc. - http://www.cubafreepress.org

31 de diciembre de 1999

U.S. GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO CUBA FREE PRESS, INC.

Dear volunteers, donors, readers and friends of The Cuba Free Press Project:

On December 30, 1999, Cuba Free Press, Inc., received a letter from USAID United States Agency for International Development, dated December 23, 1999, announcing the end of their funding to our project on February 28, 2000. The letter came as a result of a meeting of a United States Government group held in Washington, D.C., on December 17, 1999, called the Interagency Working Group (IWG) Support of the Cuban People, where it considered Cuba Free Press' request for a third year of funding from USAID. The reason given was "due to competing demands for limited program resources and the fact that you have already received two years of funding."

Cuba Free Press, Inc. cannot continue its operations without the USAID or alternative sources of funding such as: increased private donations, private grantors, advertisement revenues, and news agency revenues.

During the years we have submitted requests for funding to many foundations, and attempted to negotiate compensation from news media and others for our journalists' hard work, but without success.

USAID provided for Cuba Free Press' operations $120,000. for the grant year 3/1/98 to 2/28/99 and an additional $160,000. for grant year 3/1/99 to 2/28/2000. Cuba Free Press, Inc. also made in kind contributions during those years which are represented by the work of its many volunteers and its journalists inside Cuba. Cuba Free Press contributed more than $100,000.00 in kind each grant year as part of its agreement. And 400 private donors, gave funds to maintain our financial support of each of our journalists inside Cuba during that period. The writer of this letter provided Cuba Free Press, Inc. with $33,000.00 in cash donations. Total private money donations since June 1997 to date amount to approximately $72,000.00.

The magnitude of the results of our endeavors is here for anyone to corroborate.

1. With USAID funds, our sole source of publishing funds since the award of the grant , Cuba Free Press, Inc. has collected all items by long distance telephone voice, transcribed from voice to text, edited, its volunteers translated, and uploaded to our site at the Internet: http://www.cubafreepress.org to this date more than 5,000 original news and opinion editorial type items all originating from our independent journalists and writers inside Cuba, in the Spanish, English, French and Russian languages. They can be seen at our Internet address at http://www.cubafreepress.org

2. CFP maintained at our Internet site at http://www.cubafreepress.org a more than 6,600 item permanent public library of reference in Spanish, English, Russian and French providing the truth of what has been happening inside Cuba, especially in the areas of abuse, human rights violations and prisons. This valuable reference material is constantly being consulted by international human right's organizations, pro-freedom of the press institutions, journalists and many others throughout the world. It is also available at http://www.cubafreepress.org

3. CFP has published 18 eight-page tabloids in English and 30 eight-page tabloids in Spanish, which are mailed each month to more than 12,000 mailing addresses throughout the world including all daily newspapers with more than 100,000 circulation. Over one thousand copies circulate inside Cuba each month.

4. CFP has created, maintained and renewed an organization of courageous, independent journalists for whose personal integrity we fear, should we be forced to shut down our operations. Their financial support has been provided only with funding from you and over 400 private donors throughout the world.

5. Cuba Free Press, Inc. has had difficulties in collecting monetary compensation from local and international media users of the information provided at our Internet site at http://www.cubafreepress.org and/or by our journalistic and communications resource inside Cuba. For example:

Radio Martí, and TV Martí , (Office of Cuba Broadcasting OCB) is an agency of the United States Government and since the inception of The Cuba Free Press Project., in July 1997, has used Cuba Free Press' journalistic resources and the communication infrastructure that we maintain and finance, without providing Cuba Free Press, Inc. any compensation. Cuba Free Press' financed journalistic and communications resources, have at times provided more than 65% of all the news and news programming content of OCB's transmissions to Cuba. None of the funds used by Cuba Free Press for the compensation of the journalist resource and communications infrastructure inside Cuba are United States Government Funds. They were all received from you, our donors.

Exercising my fiduciary responsibilities towards Cuba Free Press, Inc., in a reasonable and polite letter dated September 1, 1999 and hand delivered at our premises to two high officials of OCB, CFP asked OCB to consider paying for the valuable and demonstrable services provided by Cuba Free Press, Inc. to OCB.

Later that same day, and in two other occasions during the following week, we received three telephone calls from an official of the United States Government in Washington, D.C. asking us to withdraw our letter of September 1, 1999. That same U.S. Government official conveyed a threat from a high official of OCB that if Cuba Free Press, Inc. did not withdraw its letter to OCB, he would go to the highest levels of the U.S. Government to terminate our USAID funding. Cuba Free Press, Inc. has never understood the reason for OCB's aggressive requests that Cuba Free Press, Inc. withdraw its letter instead of compensating financially and reasonably a provider of up to 65 percent of their news and news programming content.

Again, in the exercise of my fiduciary responsibilities, on September 10, 1999 we submitted a reasonable and polite request for certain OCB public documents to the Broadcast Board of Governors FOIA Unit under the Freedom of Information Act. The purpose of our request was to be able to determine: aa) the value of our services; and bb) if payments had been made for those same services to other entities or contractors. Nearly four month later OCB has not yet provided any significant compliance to our request under FOIA. We have only been provided with 20 documents, mostly unrelated to our request.

On October 4, 1999, and during our initial conversation, we advised the Assistant General Counsel of the Broadcast Board of Governors (BBG) of the threats to interfere with CFP's USAID funding and identified to him the identity of the employee of the U.S. Government who was acting as threat-messenger for the high official of OCB.

On October 19, 1999 the Assistant General Counsel of the BBG acting on behalf of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting wrote to us informing us that OCB did not have any intention of compensating Cuba Free Press, Inc. giving his legal opinion. On November 08, 1999 we replied to his letter. We said Cuba Free Press, Inc. found most of his legal opinions to be in error.

Cuba Free Press, Inc., continues to pursue its requests submitted to the FOIA Unit of the BBG. Cuba Free Press, Inc. has not consulted with counsel, is nor represented by counsel, and has not threatened legal action against the OCB verbally or in writing.

We, at Cuba Free Press, Inc. are disappointed and saddened with the decision of the U.S. Government and its agency, USAID. We can only interpret it as the beginning of the withdrawal of the U.S. Government's support for the promotion of true FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION inside Cuba and the dissemination of all the news and information of what really is occurring on the island.

USAID funding would not be needed if OCB had paid for the services provided by Cuba Free Press, Inc., and its journalistic resource inside Cuba,

We, at Cuba Free Press, Inc., see all this as another challenge; of the many that the People of Cuba and Cuban Americans have had to meet in their never-ending struggle to bring true democracy to Cuba.

We wish you all a happy and successful 2000, and thank you and pray for your continued support.

Sincerely Yours,

Cuba Free Press, Inc.

Juan A. Granados, President

CUBA FREE PRESS, INC.
P.O. Box 652035
Miami, FL 33265-2035
Phone: (305) 270 8779 --- Fax: (305) 595 1883
url: http://www.cubafreepress.org Email: mailbox@cubafreepress.org