Cuba money trail: Tale of two Miami non-profits

Cuba money Project

Credit: Cuba Money Project

Several readers have asked me for more information about the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba. So I dug around and am passing along some background on the FHRC and one of its critics, the Directorio Democratico Cubano.
The FHRC is a non-profit group that is tied to the Cuban American National Foundation, or CANF. Both list an address of 1312 SW 27 Ave. in Miami.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, awarded the FHRC a grant of $3.4 million this fall, one source told me.
That would be the largest government grant the organization has received since at least 2005, or perhaps ever.
The FHRC’s sister organization, the CANF, has advocated for greater transparency in the use of government grants. In a 22-page report dated March 2008, the CANF found that U.S. democracy-promotion programs in Cuba were “utterly ineffective due to restrictive institutional policies and a lack of oversight and accountability” within USAID. The report stated:

…a significant majority of the funds destined for Cuba’s beleaguered opposition, are actually spent in operating expenses by U.S. based non-profits. This reality runs counter to the purpose of USAID-Cuba’s program goal to: ‘promote a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba by assisting the development of Cuban civil society.’ and is atypical of the agency’s proven track record of efficient and effective promotion of development and democracy in other parts of the globe.

The CANF paper said “less than 46% of total USAID-Cuba funds from 1998 to 2006″ helped build solidarity with Cuban human rights activists. Most of the USAID funds “were distributed among Universities and think-tanks for the purpose of studying different elements of the process of transition to democracy in Cuba,” the paper said.
Phil Peters, who writes The Cuban Triangle blog, summarized the paper’s findings when it was published in 2008. He wrote:

CANF examined four grantees that received $24.5 million from USAID between 1998 and 2005 – the Center for a Free Cuba, the Directorio Democratico Cubano, the Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia, and Accion Democratica – and found that 36 percent of funds were spent on resources that reach Cuba; the rest are spent off the island, an “egregious misdirection of resources,” CANF says. The percentage of funds reaching Cuba for these four organizations was, respectively, 19 percent, four percent, 81 percent, and 27 percent.

The CANF paper angered some Cuba exiles. Orlando Gutierrez of the Directorio, accused of spending just 4 percent of grant money on humanitarian aid in Cuba, said at the time (download his statement):

We are profoundly disappointed and dismayed that CANF has chosen this time in history to attack and lie about a fellow Cuban pro-democracy organization. We need to be united against the regime; not telling lies about each other. In the name of all Cubans, we call upon CANF to cease this divisive smear campaign, which surely the Cuban dictatorship must enjoy.
Directorio is proud of its 18 years of struggle against the Communist suppression of democracy in Cuba. Directorio is a force for democratic change in Cuba.

Readers trying to figure who to believe may want to examine the Form 990s of both organizations. Below are links to some of those forms, which non-profit organizations must file with IRS.

• Directorio, Form 990, 2007
• Directorio, Form 990, 2008
• Directorio, Form 990, 2009
• FHRC, Form 990, 2008
• FHRC, Form 990, 2009
• FHRC, Form 990, 2010

According to the Directorio’s 2007 form, the organization reported spending $3,691,633. Expenses included:

• Travel, $569,969.
• Salaries, wages and employee benefits, $758,329
• Radio programming, $796,349
• Furniture, office, communications and computer equipment, $524,056
• Subcontracted personnel services, $346,799
• Telephone, $121,507
• Dominican Republic, $200,557
• Argentina office expenses, $126,412
• Mexico office expenses, $56,936
• Costa Rica, $58,988
• Czech Republic, $13,968
• Slovakia, $20,118
• Spain, $73,076
• Conferences, conventions and meetings, $40,457
• Humanitarian aid in Cuba: $15,967

According to the Directorio’s 2008 form, the organization’s spending included:

• Salaries, wages and employee benefits, $752,147
• Travel, $212,930
• Solidarity committee offices in Central and South America and in Europe, $204,311
• Humanitarian aid in Cuba, $11,785

In 2009, the Directorio’s expenses included:

• Salaries, wages and employee benefits, $768,237
• Travel, $130,267
• Subcontracted personnel services, $304,443
• Solidarity committee offices in Central and South America, $126,393
• Humanitarian aid in Cuba, $15,840

In 2008, the FHRC reported spending:

• $316,799 for assistance to groups in Cuba – or 68.5 percent of the organization’s spending that year.

In 2009, the FHRC reported spending:

• $112,327 for assistance to groups in Cuba – or 46 percent of the organization’s spending.

In 2010, the organization’s expenses included:

• $271,072 for assistance to groups in Cuba – or 59 percent of the organization’s spending.

Salaries and employee benefits for all three years was listed as zero.

More details on $18 million in Cuba grants

Cuba Money Project

A Miami human rights organization and Lawyers without Borders are among the winners of the latest U.S. government grants for Cuba-related democracy and civil society work.
The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded $3.4 million to the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, and the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor awarded $1 million to Lawyers without Borders.
Lawyers without Borders is based in Hartford, Conn., and isn’t connected to Doctors without Borders. The group does not mention Cuba on its website, which states:

Because LWOB and its lawyers frequently operate in “challenging” political environments, we ask for your indulgence for our not revealing the entirety of available details about our work . We are sure that you appreciate that the safety of our lawyers is paramount and while our pro bono public relations team at Walek & Associates cringes when they hear this, there are important accomplishments and work ongoing at all times that we simply cannot discuss in a public forum.

Also new is that the State Department evidently awarded the University of Texas at El Paso a grant for Cuba-related work, but I do not have the dollar amount.

On Oct. 13, the Cuba Money Project reported that nine organizations had won more than $8.6 million in Cuba grants from Sept. 1 to Sept. 27, according to federal records.

At the time, I couldn’t account for the full $20 million in fiscal 2010 funds that were set aside for Cuba programs. I now have new numbers showing that 11 organizations received more than $18 million.

In the Oct. 13 breakdown, I included Creative Associates International, the National Endowment for Democracy and Evangelical Christian Humanitarian Outreach, which have been awarded a total of more than $5 million for ongoing Cuba programs as part of multi-year grants. I’m not certain they are getting fiscal 2010 funds and so I’m not including them in the list below.

Organizations that received fiscal year 2010 funds (see Excel file and chart data):

• Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) – Two grants: USAID, Facilitating the Free Flow of Information, $3.9 million. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Cuba: Greater Freedom of Expression on the Island, $733,000. Total: $4,633,000.
• International Relief and Development (IRD) – Two grants: U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Democratic Engagement at the Community Level, $3.6 million. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, $693,069. Civic participation in Cuba. Total: $4,293,069.
• Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC) – USAID, Democratic Engagement at the Community Level, $3.4 million. The FHRC is part of the Cuban American National Foundation, or CANF, which has called for greater transparency in the use of Cuba funds.
• National Democratic Institute (NDI) – USAID, Democratic Engagement at the Community Level, $2.3 million.
• Lawyers without Borders, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, $1 million.
• International Republican Institute (IRI) – State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, $700,000. Cuba: Strengthening Social Inclusion through Survey Research
• Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) - State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, $600,000. Empowering Civil Society Engagement by Supporting Freedom of Expression.
• Freedom House (FH) - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, $437,000. Enhancing Human Rights Documentation in Cuba (EHRD).
• Development Research Center (DRC) – State Department, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, $376,237. Information Technology Training and Material Development.
• Florida International University (FIU) – State Department, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. $376,000.
• University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, $ amount unknown.

Total: $18,165,237.

Note: I get my numbers from different sources. These figures differ from some of the numbers on the USASpending.gov website. Some of the figures here may not be exact. As I get more precise numbers, I’ll post them. If anyone has better numbers, feel free to share them.