HAVANA, Feb 10 - Some U.S.-funded media outlets that report on Cuba are seeking alternative sources of financing while the Trump administration pursues a plan to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), leaving their fate in limbo.
The U.S. State Department has issued worldwide stop-work directives - now under court review - that have effectively frozen most foreign aid, including funding for media outlets that cover Cuba but operate independently of the Cuban government.
The move to dismantle USAID, Trump has said, is aimed at ensuring foreign aid is aligned with his "America First" policy.
Miami-based CubaNet, which received a dedicated $500,000 from USAID in 2024 to engage "on-island young Cubans through objective and uncensored multimedia journalism," last week published an editorial on its site seeking donations from readers.
"We are facing an unexpected challenge: the suspension of key funding that sustained part of our work," the editorial read. "If you value our work and believe in keeping the truth alive, we ask for your support."
The Madrid-based Diario de Cuba, in a column from Director Pablo Díaz Espí on Friday, launched a similar plea.
"Aid to independent journalism from the U.S. Government is suspended, which makes our work even more arduous," Diaz Espi said.
The decision to slash the funding appears to conflict with a broader U.S. government policy towards Cuba that has long funded opposition and human rights advocacy groups, as well as "independent" media.
USAID funding for Cuba-related media amounted to $2.3 million in 2024, according to agency budget reports, the majority earmarked for programs titled "Independent Media and Free Flow of Information."
The programs infuriate the Cuban government, which has long chided the U.S. and its aid agency for underwriting digital news outlets it calls proxies for U.S. foreign policy.
Foreign Vice Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio called the U.S.-funded media "dependent on its master," in a Friday post on social media.
"Is there anything independent about a journalist, an activist or an opposition member who lives off the money paid by the US government through USAID and now feels suffocated when they shut off the tap?," de Cossio said.
The Cuban government allows some foreign news agencies and outlets to work in Cuba, but has largely prohibited U.S.-government funded media from operating on the island, forcing many journalists into exile and pressuring others to stop their work.
Most such news sites are censured in Cuba, including some, like online website CiberCuba, which says it does not receive U.S. or government funding of any kind.
Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has promised to restore a "tough" policy on Cuba, doubling down on sanctions on the communist-run government. (NOTE: Marco Rubio has made his identity as the son of Cuban exiles a major component of his political persona, but according to the Washington Post, it's a fake: Rubio's parents arrived in the U.S. in 1956, two years before Fidel Castro took power making them Immigrants, not Refugees. See The Atlantic for additional content)
Rubio has not commented on the halting of U.S. funding for the Cuba-focused media outlets.
The Real Cuba is an independent news and commentary outlet and does not receive any Governmental nor political organizations funds.
Lawyer says self-deportation is a serious mistake
Two Cubans who had an I-220A document made the drastic decision to return to Cuba for fear of being deported. The story was revealed by journalist Javier Díaz, from Univision, who shared the appearance of a lawyer who described the action as a “terrible mistake.”
The lawyer explained that, in the case of having a pending asylum application, leaving the country without an immigration permit is equivalent to abandoning the asylum process. The couple, whose identity has not been revealed, expressed their fear of being transferred to the Guantanamo naval base, after the US authorities reported the relocation of 30,000 illegal immigrants to that site.
This type of decision they made could mark a trend among migrants who, faced with uncertainty and the lack of legal status, choose to return to Cuba in the hope of finding a new opportunity to settle in the United States in the future.
The situation of Cubans with I-220A in the US has become a matter of growing concern. Currently, hundreds of thousands of Antilleans with this document fear being deported due to the new immigration policies implemented by the Donald Trump administration. The Cuban community has requested special treatment, arguing that their situation should not be generalized with that of other irregular immigrants.
The I-220A is a Parole Order granted to certain immigrants who were detained at the border and later released. However, this document is not considered a parole for the purposes of the Immigration Courts, which prevents Cubans from applying for permanent residence through the Cuban Adjustment Act. This leaves them in legal limbo, with political asylum as their only option for protection.
The affected Antilleans have held protests in Washington and Miami demanding that the government recognize their situation and provide a solution.
(Source: TRC)
Following the new immigration policies, Cubans with I-220A fear being deported while waiting for asylum hearings. The Adjustment Act does not guarantee residency.
Cuban migrants who received an I-220A upon arriving in the United States are afraid and uncertain about what will happen to their lives after the new provisions adopted by the Trump administration.
The document grants them a temporary stay permit in the country while they resolve their legal situation, but many are not sure that it will be enough to avoid deportation.
Yunior Luis Pino Pérez, a participant in the 11J protests, received an I-220A after crossing the border through Mexico. He lives in Miami, where he requested political asylum. This year he has a second hearing to defend his case before the immigration court, but until then he fears being deported.
"My life is in danger in Cuba, after being blackmailed and forced into exile. I simply cannot return," he told Martí Noticias.
Another case is that of Dayvel Álvarez, who arrived in July 2022 and requested asylum shortly after. After a year and a day, he requested residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. He still has no response from any process.
"I only received the work permit. I am waiting, that is stopped, when I review the case, I still do not have a court date," he said.
Oscar Casanella's story is different. He is a political activist who in Cuba lived harassed and threatened by State Security, especially after the San Isidro Movement was quartered in Old Havana in 2020.
In 2022, he crossed the border with his young son and his pregnant wife. He handed over all the documentation that proved they were a family so that they would not be separated. However, each was given separate documents and did not have an interview.
"We wanted them to do the credible fear interview, we tried that, but they released us with the I-220A without being able to explain that we were politically persecuted," he lamented.
Casanella, a biochemical scientist, applied for political asylum and this year he must have his first court date.
His greatest fear after the new US immigration policy is that "general measures are applied, not case by case analysis, and people who have solid political asylum fall into the same bag as other people."
For many, it is almost a mystery to understand what criteria immigration officers follow at the border to grant an I-220A form or parole. There are families that entered together and their members received different treatment.
According to The Associated Press in 2022, the Border Patrol chose to grant parole because it was a faster process and did not have conditions in the detention centers to receive the avalanche of migrants.
Some Cubans with the I-220A obtained residency by applying for the Cuban Adjustment Act. But in 2023, the United States Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) rejected the option of considering the form as a way to access legal residency, which pushed Cubans to request political asylum.
Thousands of them, who arrived between 2017 and 2024, are in immigration limbo, waiting for their cases to be heard in an immigration court, and according to some lawyers, they could remain like this for years due to the increase in applications.
Note: The Trump administration could tighten immigration policies and increase deportations, posing a significant risk to Cubans with I-220As. While this document offers a certain level of protection, it does not guarantee safety from more restrictive policies.
(Source: cibercuba.com)