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USAID

Is USAID A ‘Criminal Organization?’

February 26, 2025 John Perry, Covert Action Magazine. , , , ,
U.S. President Donald Trump has just closed down USAID after Elon Musk branded it “a criminal organization,” adding “it’s time for it to die.” Is there any truth to Musk’s allegation? One “beneficiary” of USAID is Nicaragua, a country with one of the lowest incomes per head in Latin America. Between 2014 and 2021, USAID

USAID Federal Workers Given 15 Minutes To Clear Out Desks

February 26, 2025 John Zangas, DC Media Group. , , , , ,
Washington DC—The Federal workers of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were notified today they would be given a short period to clear out their desks over a two day period. The email detailed the process over two days for USAID bureaus to split the workday into 15 minute increments for each worker to retrieve their belongings. Many Federal workers have been located at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Building, the headquarters of USAID, for decades and would have naturally accumulated many belongings and mementos of their employment over that period.

Trump Or Not, Africa Must Take Charge Of Its Future

February 20, 2025 Nicholas Mwangi, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
For decades, Africa’s relationship with the US has been shaped largely by foreign aid, security partnerships, and economic ties that have fostered dependence rather than mutual benefit. Now, under Trump’s “renewed” leadership, this dynamic is being called into question, especially as his policies begin to impact critical sectors such as health, education, and security, causing unease across the continent. On January 20, Trump announced a 90-day freeze on USAID funding, halting essential services and sparking outrage across the world.

USAID Falls, Exposing Giant Network Of US-Funded ‘Independent’ Media

February 19, 2025 Alan MacLeod, MintPress News. , , , ,
The Trump administration’s decision to pause USAID funding has plunged hundreds of so-called “independent media” outlets into crisis, thereby exposing a worldwide network of thousands of journalists, all working to promote U.S. interests in their home countries. In late January, President Trump—along with help from the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk—began implementing sweeping changes to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the premise that the organization’s promotion of liberal and progressive causes was a gigantic waste of money. The group’s website and Twitter account have disappeared amid widespread speculation that it will cease to exist or be folded into Marco Rubio’s State Department.

Cuba Doubles Down Against USAID

February 15, 2025 Kawsachun News, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
Foreign Minister of Cuba Bruno Rodriguez has once again denounced the use of USAID against Cuba. Between 1998 and 1999 alone, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) spent more than six million dollars (USD) to carry out hundreds of illegal operations in Cuba. Between 2001 and 2006, it allocated $61 million for 142 illegal projects and activities against the Cuban people. Cuba has repeatedly denounced the use of USAID and other organizations presented as humanitarian or in defense of democracy, as fronts to penetrate and undermine societies, impose colonial values ​​and customs, as well as manipulate or outright control local elites and the press, with the aim of strengthening U.S. hegemony.

The Demise Of USAID: Few Regrets In Latin America

February 12, 2025 John Perry and Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. , , ,
“Take your money with you,” said Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, when told about Trump’s plans to cut aid to Latin America, “it’s poison.” USAID (US Agency for International Development) spends around $2 billion annually in Latin America, which is only 5% of its global budget. The temporarily closed-down agency’s future looks bleak, while reactions to its money being cut have been wide-ranging. Only a few were as strong as Petro’s and many condemned the move. For example, WOLA (the Washington Office on Latin America), a leading “liberal” think tank which routinely runs cover for Washington’s regime-change efforts, called it Trump’s “America Last” policy.

Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid To Gaza

September 25, 2024 Brett Murphy, Pro Publica. , , , , , , ,
The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza. The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

Global Censorship In The Name Of Democracy

March 23, 2024 Alan MacLeod, Mintpress News. , , , ,
A report from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) outlines how the government agency has been encouraging governments, tech platforms, establishment media outlets and advertisers to work together to censor huge swaths of the Internet. The 97-page “disinformation primer,” obtained by conservative firm America First Legal under the Freedom of Information Act, purports to be fighting fake news. However, much of the organization’s focus appears to be on preventing individuals from finding information online that challenges official narratives and leads to increased questioning of the system more generally.

US Imperialism Raising Its Ugly Arrogance Again In Zimbabwe

March 21, 2024 Netfa Freeman, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Despite its waning muscle and corroded facade, the U.S. insists on behaving as an entitled and malicious force in the world. So when the Zimbabwe government, in February, exercised its sovereign right to expel U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) agents from their country, the U.S. response was one of paternalistic and racist indignation befitting a bonafide settler colonial state. USAID Administrator Samantha Power screamed that Zimbabwe’s move was “unacceptable, inappropriate, and aggressive.”

To Subdue Haiti’s Resistance, USAID Will Assemble ‘Civil Society’ Puppets

November 2, 2023 Travis Ross, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
While USAID claims that it provides international assistance to “strengthen democratic governance” in “support of American foreign policy,” the historical record reveals that it has been used to finance opposition groups and regime-change attempts in countries that challenge Washington’s foreign policy interest. Researcher Peter Hallward documented how USAID funds were used to fund anti-government civil society fronts in Haiti after Aristide’s landslide election in 2000. This followed a cut in funding to Haiti immediately following Aristide’s victory. The understanding that the NED and USAID serve as tools for U.S. imperialism is more widely accepted these days.

US Interventionism In The Peruvian Justice System

May 10, 2023 José Carlos Llerena, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
On April 13, US Ambassador to Peru Lisa Kenna posted a photo with the Peruvian Attorney General Patricia Benavides on her personal Twitter account. She added that the two had a meeting to discuss “the importance of moving forward with investigations of incidents of violence and human rights cases in recent months”. This tweet is further evidence to not only the role played by the US embassy in the coup d’état against President Pedro Castillo Terrones on December 7, 2022, but also a long history of US interventionism in the justice system of our country. It also shows that today, in a period of multi-polar transition, is extremely strategic for the US to take care of its “Backyard” and give continuity to the Monroe Doctrine.

AMLO Asks Biden To Stop USAID Financing Opposition Groups In Mexico

May 8, 2023 Saheli Chowdhury, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , ,
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, asked his US counterpart, Joe Biden, to stop his government from funding organizations that are “openly opposed to the legal and legitimate government” of Mexico, since “it is clearly an act of interventionism, contrary to international law and the respect that should prevail among independent and sovereign states.” During his morning press conference on Wednesday, May 3, in response to a question by journalist Nancy Flores of Contralínea, AMLO showed the letter he had sent to Biden the day before, asking the US president to stop the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding opposition parties and associated NGOs, such as Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) and Article 19 that are trying to destabilize the government of Mexico.

The ‘American Plan’ 2.0

April 7, 2023 Kim Ives, Haiti Liberte. , , ,
In the late 1980s, after the Feb. 7, 1986 fall of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, Washington began to implement in earnest its neo-liberal “structural adjustment” of Haiti. “Structural adjustment” is simply an economist’s euphemism for crushing austerity cuts, comprised of firing thousands of state workers, sale and closure of state enterprises, the dramatic lowering of tariffs, and the slashing of social programs. Journalist Michael Massing deftly described the havoc that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID or simply AID) brought to Haiti in late 1987 in the New York Review of Books.

USAID: The Humanitarian Face Of Colonial Exploitation

February 19, 2023 Amanda Yee, Orinico Tribune. , , ,
The U.S. Agency for International Development was established by executive order under the Kennedy administration in 1961, tasked with the stated mission of administering humanitarian assistance or international development abroad. But make no mistake: USAID serves as a tool of U.S. capitalist and imperialist interests — it exists solely to direct the money and resources of the Global South into the pockets of the U.S. capitalist class. USAID now operates in 100 countries worldwide, mostly in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and has an annual budget of nearly $30 billion to spend on its global development programs.

Newsletter: Color Revolution Comes Home?

July 3, 2022 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The United States has perfected the art of regime change operations. The US is the largest empire in world history with more than 1,000 military bases and troops operating throughout the world. In addition to military force, the US uses the soft power of regime change, often through 'Color Revolutions.' The US has been building its empire since the Civil War era, but it has been in the post-World War II-time period that it has perfected regime change operations.US military presence around the world Have the people of the United States been the victims of regime change operations at home? Have the wealthiest and the security state created a government that serves them, rather than the people? To answer these questions, we begin by examining how regime change works and then look at whether those ingredients are being used domestically.
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