Cuts for OCB Cuba programs, proposed by the senior management of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) have been criticized by members of Congress. Under recent and current USAGM and Voice of America leaders, VOA posted controversial reports favorable to the Castro regime, employed former Russian Putin state media propagandists, and reposted without balance anti-U.S. propaganda from Russia and China. VOA also used anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic propaganda without any challenge. #USAGM-VOA-Cuba SEE: Voice of America Delayed For Five Days Posting Story on Senator Menendez Criticism of USAGM CEO OCB Appointment. #Menedez ALSO SEE: Criticism of Amanda Bennett by Immigrants Ignored by Biden in Proposing Her for USAGM CEO. #Bennett Kelu Chao is the current USAGM CEO. #Chao She previously served under former VOA director Amanda Bennett whom President Biden nominated to be the new USAGM CEO if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. SEE: Communists in Cuba Getting Soft Treatment from Voice of America #CubaProtests
USAGM Watch Commentary
We repost a press release from Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Carlos A. Gimenez (FL-26). All three are Republicans, but Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has also been critical of the USAGM senior management. All have some Cuban immigrant family roots.
Diaz-Balart, Salazar, Gimenez Statement on Proposed Funding Cuts for OCB
January 5, 2022 Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Carlos A. Gimenez (FL-26) issued the following statement regarding announced plans by the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) and the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to further cut funding for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
“We are outraged that the Biden Administration is working to impose further cuts to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting at a time when the Cuban people are struggling for freedom, and political prisoners languish in prison. In fact, while the Biden Administration and Democratic Majority continue pressing for unprecedented and irresponsible increases in government spending nearly across-the-board, they are also recommending draconian layoffs and cuts for an already diminished broadcasting agency that supports the Cuban people in their right to independent, outside information.
“These egregiously misplaced priorities are appalling. The Biden Administration and Democratic Majority should be finding more ways and greater resources to support the Cuban people in their democratic aspirations, rather than seeking ways to crush an effective and pro-freedom agency tasked with providing reliable information to the Cuban people. The Biden Administration and Democratic Majority are so blinded by their far-left, progressive ideology that they cannot bring themselves to support the basic rights of the Cuban people. Instead, they repeatedly choose to align themselves with the Cuban people’s Communist oppressors.”
