US FY 1999 Congressional Presentation

Note: This document may not always reflect the actual appropriations determined by Congress. Final budget allocations for USAID's programs are not determined until after passage of an appropriations bill and preparation of the Operating Year Budget (OYB).
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: CUBA
TITLE AND NUMBER: Peaceful Transition to Democracy Promoted, 598-SpO01
STATUS: New
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1999: $3,000,000 ESF
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1999 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004

Purpose: To promote a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba through: 1) improved outreach to the Cuban people; 2) increased promotion and protection of human rights; and 3) greater multilateral efforts to press for democracy.

USAID Role and Achievements to Date: In October 1995, the President announced the first USAID grant aimed at promoting a democratic transition in Cuba. The grant supported Freedom House in its program of dissemination of informational materials to the people of Cuba, visits by external democratic activists to Cuba, publication and dissemination of materials written by democratic activists in Cuba, and modest humanitarian material assistance to victims of repression. Under the USAID grant, Freedom House extended its contacts outside Havana to include deliveries of informational materials and humanitarian goods in the towns of Pinar del Rio, Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara, Camaguey, Cienfuegos, among others. Freedom House sent more than 40,000 Spanish language books, pamphlets and brochures (over 80 different titles) concerning the transition to democracy and market economics, history and politics. The program provided 3,000 Spanish language copies of the President's January 1997 report, Support for a Democratic Transition in Cuba, as well as 30,000 Spanish language copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and over 1,500 Spanish language copies of the Cuba chapter from the State Department's annual report on human rights. The program also sent communications equipment and supplies to the pro-democracy movement on the island. More than 35 individuals--including teachers, journalists, labor leaders, human rights activists, photographers, university students and environmentalists from the U.S. and other countries participated in the program, travelling to Cuba to meet with pro-democracy activists, carrying publications, communications equipment and supplies, and providing humanitarian assistance. The program established contacts with more than ten nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the U.S. and elsewhere and with several governmental organizations, to share information on the human rights situation in Cuba. During FY 1998, USAID has also provided grants to an number of additional U.S. NGOs, including Partners of the Americas, the International Republican Institute and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity to help promote a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.

Description: As authorized by the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, (section 109a), USAID will continue to work with individuals and independent non-governmental organizations to support democracy-building efforts for Cuba, including: a) published and informational matter--such as books, videos, and cassettes--in transitions to democracy, human rights and market economies, to be made available to independent democratic groups in Cuba; b) humanitarian assistance to victims of political repression, as well as their families; c) support for democratic and human rights groups in Cuba; and, d) support for visits and permanent deployment of independent international human rights monitors in Cuba. Section 202 of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 authorizes the President to begin planning now for U.S. assistance to a future transition government in Cuba and to a future democratically elected Cuban government. USAID, in cooperation with the Department of State and U.S. universities and NGOs, will help develop such plans, which will be shared with the people of Cuba through an update to President Clinton's January 1997 report "Support for a Democratic Transition in Cuba."

A peaceful democratic transition in Cuba must stem from the successful initiatives of Cubans on the island who seek to build civil society and promote respect for human rights in Cuba. Moreover, it will require that Cubans develop the means to peacefully reconcile conflicts during the transition--be they
economic, social or political. USAID will consider funding proposals by U.S. NGOs that help the Cuban people achieve these objectives.

Other Donors: The Roman Catholic Church provides assistance to CARITAS CUBANA, one of the few independent Cuban non-governmental organizations. The European Union provided approximately $10.9 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba in 1997, through eleven NGOs. This included medicine, hospital supplies and food, as well as $1 million for a five month business management course. The Government of Japan, in July 1997, announced a socio-economic assistance program involving an unspecified number of grants to Cuban organizations, with an individual grant ceiling of approximately $80,000. One of the first Japanese grants was to Caritas Cubana to help private farmers construct small irrigation systems. Canada, the UNDP and some other bilateral donors also provide some support.

Beneficiaries: Promotion of a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba benefits all of the Cuban people, and furthers the foreign policy goals of the United States.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, Agencies: U.S. nongovernmental organizations to be determined.
Major Result indicators:
					Baseline (FY 1998)	Target (FY 2000)

Independent Cuban NGOs			TBD			+ 30%

Cuban citizens aware of
Independent NGO activity			TBD			+ 30%
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