In early April, the Associated Press reported that USAID—the United States Agency for International Development, whose website advertises its lofty goal “to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential”—had concocted a hare-brained scheme to create a stealth Cuban version of Twitter using “a byzantine system of front companies” in Spain and the Cayman Islands. “There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement,” AP quotes one contractor insisting in a 2010 memo. “This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission.”
The mission? To topple the Cuban government.
The idea was to lure unsuspecting Cubans to sign up for the service—known as ZunZuneo, Cuban slang for a hummingbird’s tweet—so...
Stephen Kimber is a professor of journalism at the University of King’s College and co-founder of its Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program. His latest book, What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five, was published in 2013 by Fernwood.
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