Trump Condemns USAID Funding to Cuban Independent Media as "Utterly Irresponsible"

President Donald Trump has labeled the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) allocation of $1.5 million to "rebuild the Cuban media ecosystem" as "utterly irresponsible." This is not the only expenditure he finds absurd. During his first address to the United States Congress, Trump criticized USAID's funding to independent media in Cuba, citing it among the smaller allocations he highlighted to target "bureaucrats" who, in his view, have believed for "decades" that they are "accountable to no one."

Trump drew parallels between USAID's aid to Cuban independent media—which is currently frozen or halted—and other global allocations, such as $5.5 million for LGBT activism in Uganda and $6.3 million for programs targeting men who have sex with men in South Africa. The $1.5 million grant supporting Cuba's free press, which has long reported outside the Castro regime's influence and faced arrests, interrogations, and exile, was included in a list of "ridiculous projects" Trump enumerated in his speech to Congress after winning the U.S. elections. Trump also linked Cuban independent media to Agenda 2030 initiatives, like the $25 million for promoting green transportation in Georgia, and projects aligned with 'woke' ideologies, such as the $2.1 million awarded to the BBC to "value the diversity of Libyan society" and $19.3 million to foster inclusion in Vietnam.

Trump's remarks coincided with Cubanet, a prominent independent news outlet in Cuba, announcing a letter signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American, confirming that it would no longer receive U.S. government aid, as the funding from USAID is not deemed to be of "national interest" to the United States. Roberto Hechavarría Pilia, director of Cubanet, acknowledged that this decision severely jeopardizes the platform's viability. "It will be extremely challenging to sustain our work as it has been conceived thus far," he said to Diario de Cuba, after being notified of the subsidy termination by USAID.

Since the Trump Administration halted all foreign aid programs on January 27, Cuban independent media and NGOs associated with Cuba's democratization process have faced threats to their primary, and in some cases sole, funding sources. Publicly, only CiberCuba and Café Fuerte have stated they will remain unaffected by the measure, as neither has ever received U.S. government grants. However, these are exceptions. Pablo Díaz, director of Diario de Cuba, admitted that the freezing of funds would impact their newsroom and, like Cubanet, has launched a campaign soliciting reader support to continue reporting on issues ignored by state-funded media, which support Díaz-Canel's regime.

Experts have pointed out that Trump's decision to suspend global democracy support projects, including in Cuba, will ultimately benefit dictators. This is evidenced by Díaz-Canel's approval of the Republican administration's move to halt aid to independent journalism and NGOs working for Cuba's democratization.

In charge of these impactful decisions for the island, Trump appointed Marco Rubio as the interim administrator of USAID. During a tour of Latin America, the former Florida senator, now Secretary of State, criticized USAID for failing to advance U.S. national interests, accusing it of acting like a "global charity." However, he clarified that President Trump does not intend to dismantle the agency, but rather "align it more closely with U.S. foreign policy," which is why it has been placed under the State Department's control.

This move has led the Cuban regime to speculate that "as long as Marco Rubio controls USAID funds, there will be money for counter-revolution, money to document the lies that the United States uses to justify the unjustifiable."