WASHINGTON, DC – Today Congressman Bill Delahunt made public a report (available here) prepared by the Government Accountability Office on United States broadcasts to Cuba.  These programs, by the Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB)’s Radio and Television Martí stations, are intended to provide the Cuban people with access to objective, uncensored information, but have been plagued with charges of bias, corruption, and poor administration.

“This report is emblematic of a larger pattern of a lack of transparency and questionable practices,” said Delahunt, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee, “since it follows other, similarly troubling accounts about US programs regarding Cuba.  When you connect the dots, a disturbing picture emerges – one in which American taxpayer dollars are spent with little accountability, uncertain effectiveness, or a coherent strategy.  Despite these warnings, it seems that nothing ever changes.  Well, now it will.”

In 2006, the GAO – the investigative arm of Congress – reported mismanagement, poor oversight, and wasteful spending (including on cashmere sweaters and Sony Playstations) in an $83 million US government program to promote democracy in Cuba.  Since then, the former chief of staff of the Center for a Free Cuba, one of the program’s largest grantees, has pled guilty to stealing almost $600,000, and the GAO has described continuing issues with other grantees. 

In 2008, the GAO determined that proper business practices were not followed in awarding contracts to Radio Mambí and TV Azteca – two private, Miami-based stations – to broadcast Radio and TV Martí, and that there was little transparency in OCB’s hiring of “talent” contractors, opening the door to potential corruption or favoritism. 

Delahunt noted that the contract with Mambí – a politically-connected station whose signal is reportedly blocked by the Cuban government, raising questions as to why it got the contract in the first place – was allowed to lapse, supposedly for budgetary reasons, just as the GAO’s investigation began.  And the latest report says TV Azteca included commercials for Miami businesses in its TV Martí broadcasts, including one for a phone sex line.

The report Delahunt released today details ongoing management issues, including allegations of poor communication, low morale, and fraud and abuse.  Such accusations are not surprising, since in 2007, a TV Martí executive was sentenced to 27 months for taking $100,000 in kickbacks.  Although the current OCB Director – appointed by former President George W. Bush – was praised as “inspiring” by a 2007 State Department Inspector General review, the IG whose office made that claim later resigned amid allegations of cover-ups and political interference in investigations.  In contrast to the IG report, the GAO says the Director – who hired his nephew as the OCB’s Chief of Staff – is viewed by some employees as a “micromanager” with “excessive involvement in the editorial content of OCB programming.”

The GAO report also describes persistent problems with adherence to journalistic standards of balance and objectivity.  It notes that internal reviews identified “the use of offensive and incendiary language in broadcasts” and “the presentation of individual views as news…and the use of inappropriate guests whose viewpoints represented a narrow segment of opinion.”

Finally – and most troubling to US taxpayers, said Delahunt – the report determines that, while it is impossible to determine the audience for, or effectiveness of, the broadcasts in Cuba, what available research exists suggests that its impact is miniscule at best.  “Americans have spent over $500 million on this effort, but only 2 percent of Cubans responding to OCB’s telephone surveys say they’ve tuned into these broadcasts,” he said.  “This raises real questions whether this is the best use of these funds.”

The report concludes, “With a new President and Congress, the United States has a fresh opportunity to reassess the purpose and effectiveness of U.S. radio and television broadcasting to Cuba.”  Delahunt said that he intended to do exactly that, particularly since US-Cuba policy is under discussion as Raúl Castro takes over as Cuba’s President from his brother Fidel.  “Given the economic crisis in America and the ongoing changes in Cuba,” Delahunt said, “we must ensure that every single taxpayer penny committed to these programs is used effectively.” 

To read more, please click here.

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