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href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/National-Endowment-for-Destabilization-CIA-Funds-for-Latin-America-in-2018-20190403-0042.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/National-Endowment-for-Destabilization-CIA-Funds-for-Latin-America-in-2018-20190403-0042.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">National Endowment for Destabilization?
CIA Funds for Latin America in 2018</h1>
Published 4 April 2019 </div>
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<p>The CIA’s influence in Latin America is not a “leftist
rant”, it is ever-present and ignoring it represents a
real menace for national sovereignty and the continuity
of progressive governments in the region. In 2018, one
of its offshoots, the National Endowment for Democracy
(NED) <a
href="https://www.ned.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean/"
target="_blank">channeled</a> over US$23 million to
meddle in the internal affairs of key Latin American
countries, under the flagship of “human rights”,
“democracy” and “entrepreneurship.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>RELATED:<br>
<a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/The-CIAs-View-of-Venezuela-What-We-Learn-From-Archives-20190227-0019.html"
target="_blank">The CIA’s View of Venezuela:
What We Learn From Archives</a></strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<h4><strong>A trip through memory lane of </strong>NED's
history</h4>
<p>After World War II, the United States assumed its
self-proclaimed role to fight communism in a new found
bipolar world. The wartime Office of Strategic Services
morphed into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in
1947, and the rest is history as an interventionist
policy went into full force, especially in Latin
America.</p>
<p>Covert operations, ousting democratically elected
governments, inciting revolts and supporting
transnational companies were the run of the mill
actions, all justified as part of the fight against
communist influence in the region. This intensified as
the Cuban Revolution shook the world in 1959, inspiring
new revolutions in the global south. </p>
<p>When it was revealed in the late 1960s that some U.S.
private voluntary organizations (PVO) were receiving
covert funding from the CIA to intervene in foreign
nations, the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration concluded
that such funding should cease, recommending the
establishment of “a public-private mechanism” to fund
overseas activities openly. </p>
<p>Congressman Dante Fascell (D, FL), a later co-founder
of NED, introduced a bill in April 1967 to create the
Institute of International Affairs, an initiative that
would authorize overt funding for what the U.S. referred
to as exporting “democracy”, but it didn't go through.
However, the 1970s would force a change inside the CIA,
and subsequently the world.</p>
<p>In 1974, former CIA specialist and whistleblower,
Victor Marchetti, published a book <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/obituaries/victor-marchetti-dead.html"
target="_blank">revealing all sorts of secrets</a> and
clandestine operations made by the agency. In the same
year, New York Times journalist, Seymour Hersh, reported
a series of stories regarding mass internal surveillance
made by the CIA. And one year later, former agent <a
href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/28/assange-wikileaks-prosecute-agee-covert-action-cia-222693"
target="_blank">Phillip Agee</a>, would add to the
controversy with a book dealing with his work
intervening and influencing Latin American politics. </p>
<p>The public outcry resulted in the Rockefeller
Commission, the Pike "Report," and the Church
Committee, all investigated the CIA’s work. “We should
not have to do this kind of work covertly,” said current
NED President Carl Gershman in 1986, adding that “it
would be terrible for democratic groups around the world
to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the
60s, and that’s why it has been discontinued. We have
not had the capability of doing this, and that’s why the
endowment was created.”</p>
<p>The Agency had to reform in order to continue its
interventionist agenda. So in 1982, in a major foreign
policy address delivered at Westminster Palace before
the British Parliament, President Ronald Reagan
announced the creation of a U.S. entity that would
foster liberal ideology, market economy (neoliberalism),
and U.S.-styled “democracy”. </p>
<p>With money from the Agency of International Development
(USAID), a government program recommended the
establishment of a bipartisan, non-profit corporation to
be known as the <a
href="https://www.ned.org/about/history/"
target="_blank">National Endowment for Democracy (NED)</a>.
By 1983, the new organization was created, and the CIA
had a new way to channel funds for countries who did not
agree with U.S policy.</p>
<p>"A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years
ago by the CIA," said NED cofounder Allen Weinstein in
1991. </p>
<p>As major party ideologies were less attractive in the
1980s, the fall of the Soviet bloc would mark the
perfect opportunity and conditions for NED’s work. Civil
society became a new political actor, through
non-government organizations (NGO), and as in wartime,
these would become “trojan horses” for the CIA by
accepting money to influence political parties, unions,
dissident movements, and media in dozens of countries.</p>
<p>In order to do this, NED houses four organizations that
materialize the work. The first is the U.S.
labor-affiliated American Center for International Labor
Solidarity (ACILS), now <a
href="https://www.solidaritycenter.org/"
target="_blank">Solidarity Center</a>, in charge of
infiltrating and influencing worker’s unions. The
second, backed by the U.S Chamber of Commerce is the
Center for International Private Enterprise (<a
href="https://www.cipe.org/" target="_blank">CIPE</a>),
in charge of asserting power over business and
industrial moguls. </p>
<p>Last but not least, the Democratic Party’s National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs (<a
href="https://www.ndi.org/" target="_blank">NDI</a>)
and the Republican Party’s International Republican
Institute (<a href="https://www.iri.org/"
target="_blank">IRI</a>), both in charge of colluding
with left and right local parties and movements,
respectively. All getting their funding from the same
purse. </p>
<p>Infamous figures such as Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew
Brzezinski, Paul Wolfowitz, Madeline Albright, among
others have been board directors; and even now the main
voice leading regime change in Venezuela, Elliot Abrams
is listed as an “on leave” board director. </p>
<p>There are countless strategies that NED uses to meddle
in countries: supplying funds, technical know-how,
training, educational materials, gifts, conferences,
oversee trips, office materials, you name it. These are
channeled directly by NED or third parties to selected
political groups, NGOs, labor unions, dissident
movements, student groups, publishers, and what they
refer to “independent” media.</p>
<p>These programs aim to exert influence directly inside a
country by pushing a certain economic/political agenda,
intervening in electoral processes and mass media. Or
indirectly by lobbying civil society into believing that
free-market ideology and neoliberalism jargon is the
path towards democracy and human rights. </p>
<p>And they’ve done it for the past 36 years. So 2018
NED’s grant report is not a surprise but a chance to see
who’s who in the CIA “nice list”. </p>
<h4>Venezuela</h4>
<p>In 2018, US$2.4 million were <a
href="https://www.ned.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean/venezuela-2018/"
target="_blank">destined for Venezuela.</a> However,
it is the only country in the region in which the
recipients are not published. The programs are described
under civic education, human rights observatories, and
vague liberal keywords such as empowerment, freedom,
democracy and democratic values. </p>
<p>Yet journalists, Max Blumenthal and Dan Cohen wrote in
January 2019 an extensive <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/"
target="_blank">investigative piece</a> that explained
how opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido, who has declared
himself interim president in Venezuela with the support
of the U.S. and its allies, is a product of NED’s
funding. </p>
<p>On October 5, 2005, five Venezuelan “student leaders”
arrived in Serbia to begin training for an insurrection,
courtesy of the NED-funded Center for Applied
Non-Violent Action and Strategies (Canvas). According to
<a
href="https://search.wikileaks.org/gifiles/?viewemailid=218642"
target="_blank">leaked</a> internal emails from
intelligence firm Stratfor, Canvas “may have also
received CIA funding and training during the 1999/2000
anti-Milosevic struggle.”</p>
<p>It was two years later, in 2007, when Guaido graduated
from University that he moved to Washington, DC to
enroll in the Governance and Political Management
Program at George Washington University, under the
tutelage of neoliberal Venezuelan economist Luis Enrique
Berrizbeitia. The “Generation 2007” class was created,
with others such as Yon Goicoechea and David Smolansky.</p>
<p>The funding started pouring in.</p>
<p>In a 2010 <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5441"
target="_blank">report</a> by the Spanish think tank,
Fride Institute, with funding from the World Movement
for Democracy (a NED project), disclosed that the
Venezuelan opposition was receiving funding of whopping
US$40 to 50 million annually, which shows that NED
funding is just one of the strategies to funnel
clandestine ops. </p>
<p>By 2014, the same “student leaders” would create
the guarimbas, a student-led anti-government movement
that has been accused of violence, to exacerbate chaos
and a few years later Guaido would become the latest
pawn in the U.S. interventionist plot in Venezuela. </p>
<h4>Cuba</h4>
<p>The premise is very similar in Cuba. In 2018, <a
href="https://www.ned.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean/cuba-2018/"
target="_blank">US$4.7 million were diverted </a>to
anti-Cuban movements and NGOs.</p>
<p>In the case of the island, there are mainly NGO's based
in the U.S. under the 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization
statute, who have strategically devised their plan to
influence local media, international perceptions, and
labor unions.</p>
<p>With regards to labor union infiltration, the
International Group for Corporate Social Responsibility
in Cuba is dedicated to promoting free trade unionism in
a bid to undermine the Workers Union of Cuba (CTC).
However, it is as a recurrent strategy for Latin America
to have media on their payroll, for this country:
CubaNET, Diario de Cuba, HyperMedia, Cartel Urbano, all
presenting themselves as "independent" outlets are
financed by the U.S. government. </p>
<p>There are also institutes and think tanks such as the
Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, the Latin American
Cultural Union (LACU), Center for a Free Cuba, Cuban
Institue for Freedom of the Press and Expression,
Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos, Free Society
Project, Inc., and the <a
href="http://www.directorio.org/" target="_blank">Cuban
Democratic Directorate</a>. The latter self-describes
as an NGO that "supports the human rights movement in
Cuba" yet proudly displays on their website’s homepage a
picture of their Director Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat with
far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his
son.</p>
<p>Another approach is funding organizations to influence
international perception. In this category stands out
the international Press and Society Institute, Slovakian
People in Peril Association, Chilean Public Space
Center, International Institute for War and Peace
Reporting, Christian Solidarity International, Mexican
Factual Innovation and Investigation, Colombian ProBono
Foundation, Uruguayan Development and Communication
Institute, Colombian Sergio Arboleda University,
Iberoamerican Constitutional Studies Center, Mexican
Youth Association for the United Nations, and the
Peruvian Freedom Institute, which openly states its
liberal economic and political affiliation, gathers
young middle-class Peruvian and Latin Americans to
indoctrinate them in a program called "Free Citizens
Academy", and later be <a
href="https://www.apnews.com/7e5b68a609174330bdb5bfbbe695db07"
target="_blank">sent</a> to the island. </p>
<h4>Nicaragua</h4>
<p>The list cannot be complete without the third official
member of what National Security Advisor, John Bolton,
dubbed the “Troika of Tyranny”, in order to justify
interventions paralleled in Venezuela and Cuba. In 2018,
Nicaragua <a
href="https://www.ned.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean/nicaragua-2018/"
target="_blank">got</a> US$1.3 million. However, for
this country, Washington needed to engage the funding
one by one as it builds a clear network to overthrow
President Daniel Ortega. </p>
<p>One of the biggest recipients is the Iberian-American
Foundation of Cultures (<a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161020062409/http://fibrasnicaragua.org/index.php/quienes-somos"
target="_blank">Fibras</a>) founded in 2000, and since
2006, according to their website, supporting "democratic
culture". The Foundation has received funding from NED,
IRI, NDI, and USAID; money which they use to sponsor the
opposition Movement for Nicaragua (MpN).
Iberian-American Foundation of Cultures is based in
Spain but has branches across Latin America. </p>
<p>Since the beginning of Ortega’s administration in 2007,
the MpN has organized a multitude of protests against
the government. Starting in 2018, they’ve become main
actors in the nation-wide demonstrations against
Ortega's government that have rocked the country,
joining others such as Let's Do Democracy and the
International Institute of Strategic Studies and Public
Policies (IEEPP).</p>
<p>In December 2018, in a criminal trial against Cristian
Mendoza, alias Viper, charged with organizing violent
actions within the protests, the defendant <a
href="https://www.lavozdelsandinismo.com/nicaragua/2018-10-17/el-viper-declara-contra-felix-maradiaga-y-luciano-garcia/"
target="_blank">claimed</a> that the current director
of the IEEPP, Felix Maradiaga, and the director of Let's
Do Democracy, Luciano Garcia, were the main leaders of
the criminal groups, in which Viper was involved, which
violently took over the Polytechnic University of
Nicaragua during April, May and June of that year.</p>
<p>The accused added that the two alleged culprits were
handing out pamphlets titled "Strategy to save democracy
in Nicaragua", which contained guidelines on how to
create situations of instability to overthrow the
government.</p>
<p>These nation-wide protests, started against the
government’s Social Security Reform - later withdrawn-,
which aimed to distribute the financial burden between
companies and workers, thus avoiding privatization of
the service. However, since the start, the private
sector was not pleased. </p>
<p>The Higher Council of Private Enterprise (<a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/nicaragua-desestabilizacion-factores-externos-elites-derecha-20180531-0022.html"
target="_blank">Cosep</a>) rejected the measures
arguing they generated "uncertainty and limited the
creation of jobs by the private sector." In regards to
NED funding, the Center for International Private
Enterprise (CIPE) had the largest amount for Nicaragua,
US$230,000. </p>
<p>The discontent pushed by the private sector was taken
up by NGOs such as MpN, IEEPP and Let’s Do Democracy.
The protests have similar characteristics as the
guarimbas in Venezuela, which include extreme violence,
homemade weapons, social media fake news strategy,
systematic destruction of public and private property,
and deployment of local celebrities, actions that have
been described by the government and their supporters as
a soft coup attempt.</p>
<p>Another recipient of NED funds is the Permanent
Commission of Human Rights of Nicaragua (CPDH), founded
in 1977, and part of a triumvirate of "human rights"
organizations that were created under U.S auspice. The
other two, Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights
(ANPDH) from 1986 and the Nicaraguan Center for Human
Rights (CENIDH) - linked to the offshoot Sandinista
Renewal Movement -are all directly connected to the
opposition far-right bishop Juan Abelardo Mata.</p>
<p>In the ever-present media category, the private company
<a
href="https://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/481844-carlos-fernando-chamorro-denuncia-policia-crimen-o/"
target="_blank">Invermedia</a> received funding. This
firm belongs to opposition journalist Carlos Fernando
Chamorro Barrios, son of former president Violeta
Barrios de Chamorro. When Chamorro was elected, George
H. W. Bush removed the embargo that Ronald Reagan had
imposed during Sandinista rule and promised economic aid
to the country.</p>
<h4>Bolivia</h4>
<p>As presidential elections loom closer, Oct. 20, the
Andean country cannot be left out the list. In 2018, it
<a
href="https://www.ned.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean/bolivia-2018/"
target="_blank">received</a> US$908,832. Approximately
47 percent of this amount was used, without a recipient,
by the Republican Party International Republican
Institute - in charge of funding right-wing parties -
and the Center for International Private Enterprise - in
charge of financing private sector chamber of commerce
and production. </p>
<p>The rest of the grants are divided into three
categories: NGOs that involve the justice system, media,
and think tanks. In the first category, the NGOs
MicroJustice Bolivia, Build Foundation, Observatory for
Human Rights and Justice and Building Networks Bolivia
can be found.</p>
<p>Local media, as usual, is a common grantee. Here,
however, it is not self-proclaimed "independent" outlets
but the Fides News Agency, Bolivia's oldest news agency,
and also the Foundation for Journalism. Finally, the
outspoken critic think tank against Morales’
administration, Millenium Foundation is amongst the
recipients. </p>
<p>These sort of organizations think tanks and media
outlets can be found in all countries in the NED
official list. Back in 2016, <a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/La-CIA-en-Ecuador-20160603-0049.html"
target="_blank">teleSUR</a> reported on how the CIA
operated in Ecuador, through NED and other
organizations. Now the same recipients are still on the
list, those that openly opposed former President Rafael
Correa and others that disguise themselves as “human
rights” NGOs. Another case is the influence in the
electoral process in Haiti that can be seen in the
amount of money that was destined towards that cause in
that country. The same can be said for the rest of the
list. </p>
<p>Now to dub all of them 'agents' would be a
misconception, and more related to a Cold War era
mindset. And even though the CIA continues to recruit
moles and agents, their tactics have changed as the main
goal is to influence and create a “common sense” without
being seen as interventionists, or as XVIII-XIX century
Johann von Goethe said: “the best slave is the one who
thinks he is free.”</p>
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