Is USAID's Cuba Program "Ineffective"?

BY: CAPITOL HILL CUBANS




March 7, 2011


How do you reconcile these two statements from the AP's story on the sham "trial" (and now conviction) of American development worker Alan Gross?

First:

Several analysts say Cuba wanted to use the case to shine a light on the USAID programs, which have long been a source of irritation in Havana. With the trial over, they argue, Cuba has no strategic reason to keep Gross in jail much longer.

Then:

The USAID programs have been criticized repeatedly in congressional reports as being wasteful and ineffective, and funding was held up briefly in 2010 over concerns following Gross' arrest.

Apparently, the USAID program is so "ineffective" at helping Cuban civil society that the Castro regime is holding an American hostage in order to try to extort the U.S. into terminating it.

Just like Radio and TV Marti is so "ineffective" that the Castro regime spends its scarce resources trying to scramble it at all costs.

Makes perfect sense. Doesn't it?