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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, reacted with evident annoyance this Tuesday to the announcement by the U.S. Department of State regarding the reinstatement of funds aimed at projects supporting civil society and independent media in Cuba, calling them "subversive programs."
“As expected, the U.S. Secretary of State has restored government funding to subversive programs against #Cuba run by organizations that claim to be independent and have profited for years from anti-Cuban mercenarism,” wrote Rodríguez Parrilla on his X account (formerly Twitter), making clear the regime's discomfort with the return of international support for critical voices within the island.
The chancellor's statement comes weeks after the U.S. government, under the administration of Donald Trump and with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, ordered the closure of USAID and abruptly froze funds intended for the promotion of human rights, freedom of expression, and democracy in authoritarian countries, including Cuba.
At that time, Cuban authorities celebrated the measure. High-ranking officials and spokespeople of the regime mocked the affected media, claiming that the "tap of money from the empire" had been shut off forever.
One of them was the vice president of UPEC, Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, known as “Paquito de Cuba”, who posted ironic messages on social media about the media crisis such as Radio Martí, including a photo with a portable radio pretending to search for a signal and another in which he suggested that the cuts would increase unemployment among “the counter-revolution.”
Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, former spy of the Wasp Network and current national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), also celebrated the closure of Radio y TV Martí. With a sarcastic tone, he stated on Facebook that "the mercenary media have lived too long on the tale."
The restoration of the funds, although partial, represents a symbolic blow to that narrative. The State Department justified the decision as part of its commitment to promoting human rights and strengthening civil society in repressive contexts like that of Cuba.
Among the organizations that benefited are outlets such as Cubanet, El Toque, and Cubalex, which received official notification regarding the reactivation of suspended contracts.
In response, other official voices from Cuba also raised their tone. Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, questioned the legitimacy of the projects supported by the U.S., suggesting that opponents who receive U.S. funding cannot be considered independent.
This reaction was joined by Johana Ruth Tablada de la Torre, Deputy Director General for the U.S. at MINREX, who during a televised meeting with Díaz-Canel and Gerardo Hernández denounced Washington's hypocrisy for financing what she called “a subversive machine” against Cuba, while at the same time “boasting of defending democracy.”
In contrast to the criticisms of the regime, several Cuban journalists and activists saw the restoration of funds as an opportunity to continue their work in defense of human rights and freedom of the press.
“We are not mercenaries. We are Cubans committed to reporting what those in power try to conceal,” said a reporter from Havana on the condition of anonymity.
According to El Nuevo Herald, the restoration is not complete: at least 83% of the programs managed by USAID have been eliminated, and most of the major U.S. organizations that promoted democracy in the region have lost dozens of projects. However, the partial unlocking of funds for Cuba represents a notable exception.
In the midst of this uncertainty, the angry reaction from Havana reveals the regime's true concern: the fear of losing the information monopoly and that independent voices regain strength with international support.
While the official apparatus mocks, criminalizes, and discredits, independent journalism continues to resist, and now has a new impetus to keep reporting on Cuban reality outside of state control.
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