ZunZuneo: USAID Funded 'Cuban Twitter' To Undermine Communist Regime 173
barlevg (2111272) writes "In a country where the government severely limits access to the world wide web, ZunZeneo, an anonymous SMS-based social network, drew more than 40,000 Cuban users at its peak, the Associated Press reports. On it, people shared news and opinions about music and culture. But what none of its subscribers knew was that the project was secretly funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), though a series of shell corporations and foreign bank accounts, and that its stated goal was 'renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society' in the Communist stronghold, hopefully leading to a 'Cuban Spring.'"
Re:USAID (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I hope this is BS (Score:4, Informative)
If you've ever met anyone from Cuba they will tell you that the outside world is nothing like what they are told on the news. How is that not propaganda?
Re:Oh goodness me, non-military means! (Score:5, Informative)
Well, I guess on the morality scale, this is an improvement over open assassination attempts [wikipedia.org] and blowing up airliners [wikipedia.org] to discourage tourism. I guess that's "moral progress" by slimy U.S. standards.
Re:USAID is not a NGO (Score:4, Informative)
it seems to say that the USAID helped set up social networks in Cuba that weren't controlled by the government. That sounds like a good thing to me. I'm puzzled why any /. readers would object to this.
Because the goal isn't to set up social networks, it's to start a violent coup and ultimately reinstall a U.S. puppet government in Cuba. These social networks are just a means to a slimy end.
Re:I hope this is BS (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not American, and as someone who knows a few Cubans, I can tell you most of the country isn't like the tourist zones.
Re:I hope this is BS (Score:3, Informative)
Can confirm as a Canadian. I have travelled there, and there are two distinct countries in Cuba.
One that tourists are allowed to see (which extends off of places like Veradero to cover good portions of Havana and anywhere which tourists travel for experiences like river excursions and the like)
The other one contains the people of Cuba who have zero contact with foreigners, and zero access to US currency which drives the black market down there.
Neither of them is really adequately portrayed in North American media because neither of them serve to advance the narrative that the media is content with pushing. Either "Castro is evil, his people need us to give them freedom" or "These people live idylic, peacefull lives, free from the trappings of Western modern society, and they are happy with their lot in life".
The reality is far more nuanced that either of those sound bites.