The Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked the U.S. Agency for International Development on Thursday to turn over all its records about the Obama administration's Twitter-like social media program it secretly built in Cuba.

The request included all copies of any messages that the U.S. government or its contractors transmitted to subscribers in Cuba, who never were told about Washington's role in the primitive, text message-based network that was meant to undermine Cuba's communist government.

Congressional hearings this week scrutinized the Obama administration's social media program, known as ZunZuneo when it publicly launched in 2010, and whether USAID should be running such an intelligence-like operation instead of spy outfits like the CIA.

"USAID programs are as of notified designed to promote open accessed information, facilitate communication," said Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator. "Any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by USAID but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy."

Menendez, who made the request without a committee vote, said the review will consider whether USAID's pro-democracy programs in Cuba were consistent with those run in other foreign countries, and whether USAID should operate what it has since acknowledged was a "discreet" program.

Menendez said earlier Thursday that USAID's Cuban program was not "in any way a cockamamie idea." His comments took direct aim at Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who earlier this week criticized the USAID program in similar terms _ marking a rare departure from the Senate's staid tradition of decorum among lawmakers.

"It is dumb, dumb and even dumber to go ahead and suggest that there can be freedom, and we should seek Internet freedom globally, but somehow the people of Cuba don't deserve the same freedom," Menendez said. Leahy last week called the secret program "dumb, dumb, dumb."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

1. Wide of hearing hall from far end

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Chairman Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey:

"I think it is dumb, dumb, and even dumber to go ahead and suggest that there can be freedom and we should seek freedom of international access and freedom of expression globally but that somehow the people of Cuba don't deserve the same freedom."

3. Wide of people talking in the hall

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

"The other argument I've heard is that this is a covert program but in fact this program was reviewed by the general accounting office right."

VOICE UP Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; "Correct"

"And they made no suggestions for changes. They had no criticisms of how the money was being administered.

SOUNBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator:

"They actually complimented USAID on improvement management oversight of the program.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

"There was no intelligence program, there was no spying on the Cuban government used in this program"

VOICE UP Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; "no"

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

5. Close of Shah listening

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

6. SOUNBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID president:

"USAID programs are as of notified designed to promote open accessed information, facilitate communication. Any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by USAID but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

7. Close of Senator Jeff Flake

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

8. SOUNBITE (English) Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona:

"specifically with this one I do have issues. Not with the fact that we have programs like this going but the fact that they're conducted by USAID."

9. Wide of of people leaving hearing

Costa Rica's government has asked Washington to explain why it devised a secret 'Cuban Twitter' social media network from inside the Central American nation's borders.

Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla confirmed on Thursday that she approved a diplomatic note her government sent to the US Embassy in San Jose asking about the social media network.

"The appropriate (diplomatic) note was sent to make our position known and from our point of view there is nothing more to add," Chinchilla told reporters at a government event in San Jose.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) created ZunZuneo to stir political unrest in Cuba, but its users were unaware it was backed by the US government.

In early April, the Associated Press reported that ZunZuneo's development team initially operated out of Central America.

A USAID manager supervised the work of US contractor Creative Associates International from an office in the capital San Jose.

The US government has denied that the program was secret or that it had a political agenda.

Documents obtained by the AP show that contractors working on ZunZuneo went to extensive lengths to hide its ties to the US, using foreign companies and computer servers paid for via a bank account in the Cayman Islands.

They did so after acquiring more than 400,000 mobile phone numbers from Cuba's state-run telecommunications provider.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica President speaking at an event of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration

2. Mid of Chinchilla speaking

3. Wide of event

4. Chinchilla speaking

5. Chinchilla leaving event and stopping to greet someone

6. Chinchilla talking to media, with Costa Rica Communications Minister Carlos Roverssi to her right (with yellow tie)

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica President:

"The appropriate (diplomatic) note was sent (to the US Embassy in Costa Rica) to make our position known and from our point of view there is nothing more to add."

8. Roverssi listening to Chinchilla as she talks to media

9. Close of Roverssi

10. Roverssi listening to Chinchilla as she talks to media

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carlos Roverssi, Costa Rica Minister of Communication:

"Look, when we learned through the AP (about social media network ZunZuneo), which was the (news agency) that brought this information to light, we officially requested that the government of the United States clarify the facts, as they have been reported. The government of the republic (Costa Rica) was unaware of the issue (meaning ZunZuneo's existence), the issue came about in 2008 and we are waiting for the response from the government of the United States."

12. Roverssi leaving event

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION

1. Yoani Sanchez, dissident Cuban blogger and her husband Reinaldo Escobar, seated inside Jose Marti International Airport

2. Wide of Sanchez sitting in airport with her husband

3. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, dissident blogger:

"I hope this trip is not my last trip. It is the most anxious one and the one I've been waiting for the longest, but I hope it's not my last."

4. Close up of Sanchez showing her passport to cameras

5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, dissident blogger:

"What is clear about this new stage is that I plan to remain in Cuba and will work from here. I will work as a journalist and with every passing day I will get up in the morning behaving as a freer person and the government of my country will have to accept that."

6. Close up Sanchez showing passport

7. Pan of Sanchez greeting someone and then walking over to check-in desks

8. Sanchez checking in

9. Pan of Sanchez walking towards immigration desks

10. Tilt up of Sanchez going through immigration

11. Close up immigration sign

12. Sanchez waves and passes through immigration

13. Wide exterior Jose Marti International Airport

STORYLINE

Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez left Havana on Sunday, setting out on a 3-month dozen-nation world tour after a new law eased travel restrictions on islanders last month.

Cuban authorities issued Sanchez a new passport in accordance with a recently passed law which simplifies entry and exit procedures by removing bureaucratic obstacles for those who wish to travel off the island.

Sanchez has gained international fame - and raised the ire of island authorities - with her descriptions of daily life in Cuba on her blog Generation Y, and she also writes for Spanish newspaper El Pais.

At Jose Marti International Airport, Sanchez said that she was anxious about the trip and she hoped it wouldn't be her last.

Sanchez says Cuba has denied her permission to travel about 20 times in recent years.

But the exit permit requirement ended with the government's travel reform in January, and Cubans now only need a passport to leave the country.

"I will work as a journalist and with every passing day I will get up in the morning behaving as a freer person and the government of my country will have to accept that," she said before checking in for her flight to Brazil, the first stop on her trip.

The tour includes several stops in the United States, with appearances at universities in New York and other academic programs, visits to Google and Twitter offices and time with family in Florida.

She'll also travel to the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with potential trips to Argentina and Chile in the works.

The Cuban government considers the island's small community of dissidents to be dangerous counter-revolutionaries bent on undermining its sovereignty.

Time magazine listed Sanchez as one of the world's most influential people back in 2008 for her internet blog Generation Y.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide interior of airport with media and blogger Yoani Sanchez's friends and family waiting

2. Mid of family and friends waiting

3. Zoom out of Sanchez coming out of airport customs

4. Mid of Sanchez hugging her son Teo Escobar, husband Reinaldo Escobar, and her mother

5. Close of friends hugging and kissing Sanchez while others clap

6. Mid of Sanchez walking out of airport

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, Cuban Dissident Blogger:

"Thank you very much for coming. It has been a marvellous trip, really. I am very tired because not only has it been more than 100 days, but also a long and marvellous trip. It is a trip that will change my life in many ways because it has been a humane trip, a journalistic trip, civic, and technological. I am now here with many projects."

8. Mid of Sanchez and family leaving airport

9. Zoom in exterior of Havana International airport

STORYLINE

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez returned on Thursday to her island homeland that officially considers her a traitor, concluding a more than three-month globe-trotting tour that cemented her status as the most internationally recognisable face of Cuba's small dissident community.

Sanchez emerged from the airport in the evening, hugged her husband and son and greeted about a dozen relatives and friends.

"It has been a marvellous trip," she told reporters gathered at the terminal.

"A trip that is going to change my life in many ways ... and I have returned with lots of projects," Sanchez added.

Pleading exhaustion after a trans-oceanic flight capping a journey that lasted more than 100 days, she asked for time alone with family and said she would speak more of her future plans after resting.

Sanchez has been on the road since 17 February when she took advantage of a new reform ending a long time requirement that all Cubans obtain permission to travel abroad.

Under the old rules, government critics who are branded as "counter-revolutionary" sellouts and the paid stooges of foreign interests were routinely denied exit visas.

Sanchez visited more than a dozen countries in Europe and the Americas and gave speeches criticising President Raul Castro's Communist-led government.

She also met with human rights activists and foreign lawmakers, and cultivated relationships with journalists at leading Western newspapers.

In the process, she picked up more than 100,000 new Twitter followers to top the half-million mark.

She is less well-known at home, however.

Of 20 Cubans surveyed informally by The Associated Press this week in Havana, just seven said they had heard her name, and several of those were unclear on exactly who she was.

Only three were aware of her global tour.

Her challenge now is to try to change that.

Sanchez has said a main goal of the trip was to prepare herself to launch an independent online newspaper in Cuba, something will surely rankle local authorities.

The government, for its part, will be closely scrutinised abroad for how it treats her.

At the same time, by allowing her to travel it has undercut accusations from foreign capitals and human rights groups that it essentially held its citizens hostage through the now-scrapped exit visa requirement.

Analysts say Sanchez's rising international fame likely insulates her physically from arrest.

She has told people close to her she expects to be the target of less detention but more propaganda offensives by the government and its allies.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of exterior of exhibition centre Pabellon Cuba where Cuban bloggers gathered for meeting

2. Sign on wall, reading: "Cuba", man walking by

3. Pan of bloggers at computers inside venue

4. Close of hand typing on keyboard, tilt up to monitor screen showing "Twitter" social networking website homepage

5. Wide of bloggers around table in front of computers

6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alejandro Cruz, Cuban blogger:

"It's very difficult to separate Cuba from politics, anything you do, any joke by a friend can be interpreted as political. It's really part of life, the life we have been chosen to lead, but it doesn't scare me at all."

7. Mid of Cruz at computer with blogging website on screen, zoom in to screen

8. Mid of another blogger at computer

9. Top shot of another blogger at computer with photographer next to him

STORYLINE:

Cuban bloggers and Twitter users gathered in Havana on Friday marking World Social Forum Day, a nod to the growing clout of social media in societies around the world.

About two dozen Cuban bloggers met at an exhibition centre in the capital to exchange views, make connections and tap into the web, courtesy of the Cuban Government.

It's a courtesy few other Cubans share, only slightly less than three percent of the island's 12 (m) million residents have access to the internet, and most of those only get their access through heavily controlled and monitored work place computer stations.

That's according to the Cuban government's own statistics.

A much heralded broadband cable connection inaugurated February 9 of this year caused some excitement amongst Cubans anxious to get access to the web, but so far the government has declined to make it broadly available.

Some persistent social media adherents, like blogger Alejandro Cruz, use social media to talk to others on the island, and around the world, about Cuba's popular culture and music scene.

There are other more controversial ones, like Yoanni Sanchez, who writes a highly political blog about life on the island.

Cruz says that's not what he is after but acknowledges the political minefield he sometimes has to navigate when posting on the Internet.

"It's very difficult to separate Cuba from politics, anything you do, any joke by a friend can be interpreted as political. It's really part of life, the life we have been chosen to lead....but it doesn't scare me at all," he says.

According to Akamai Technologies Inc., Cuba has the second lowest Internet penetration of any country in the world, just behind the tiny 374 square-kilometre island nation of Mayotte off the coast of Africa, with less than 200,000 people.

A Twitter-like Cuban social media network that the U.S. government built to stir unrest was a "cockamamie" idea doomed to discovery and failure, the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Agency for International Development declared Tuesday. He said the agency didn't adequately describe to Congress the program it was secretly operating.

A key question for the hearings is whether the program endangered its users by concealing that the U.S. government was behind it. The network was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned there after traveling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

His voice rising in anger at moments, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said, "while we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception." He also said that from its inception, the program had "no possibility of working."

Rajiv Shah, USAID's top official, said the program, disclosed last week by The Associated Press, was part of the administration's efforts to provide new digital methods to increase the flow of information in and out of Cuba. Shah said the effort operated "discreetly" and was described in congressional budget justifications. But Leahy interrupted Shah to say he had read those budget documents.

"If you could figure out it meant this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us," Leahy said.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that USAID oversaw the creation of the text message-based service, dubbed ZunZuneo for the sound made by a Cuban hummingbird. USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington's ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP.

Shah said the AP's report had a number of critical inaccuracies, but he was not asked to describe them and did not specify his complaints. Though he could not say who came up with the idea for Zunzuneo, he said the agency operates transparently and was "absolutely not" operating a covert program.

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

1. Wide of Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) entering the chambers and shaking hands with Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the agency

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"While we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception."

3. Wide of the Senate panel at the hearing

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"The program was designed in 2007 and 2008, in that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- (Sen. Leahy: No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all in something that the Cubans would be so easy to discover. Whose idea was this specific program to go to Cuba? Who? It's a simple question.) Um, sir, the program was in place before I arrived (Sen. Leahy: But do you know whose idea it was? I know it was in place before and I said that before in my opening statement before you arrived but do you know whose idea it was?) I -- well first let me say and I know this is important sir and I greatly respect your point of view but that AP story had a number of critical inaccuracies. (Sen. Leahy: I've read USAID's statement and I'll put that in the record, I'll tell you what, I'll put it in the record, both your response to the AP story and the AP story. Having said that, do you know whose idea it was?) I do not specifically, but I'll say this. Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and many other parts of the world is a core part of what USAID has done for some time and continues to do. Our administration's policy is to continue to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent that the AP story and any other comment creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other ulterior purposes. That is simply inaccurate. (Sen. Leahy: Was it a covert program?) Absolutely not. It was conducted (Sen. Leahy: And was anyone at the US interests section of the Department of State or the White House aware of the facts of this program?) This program has been notified publicly in Congressional budget justifications dating back to 2008. (Sen. Leahy: I've read those and when I talk about bureaucrats, if you can figure out it mean this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 April 2014

5. Mid of Sen. Coats and Sen. Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - 8 April 2014

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"They don't always work and I'll be the first to admit that, but often they do. (Sen. Leahy: This one from the get go had no possibility of working. That's my problem."

7. Mid of Shah getting up after the hearing

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"While we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"The program was designed in 2007 and 2008, in that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- (Sen. Leahy: No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all in something that the Cubans would be so easy to discover."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 8, 2014

3. Mid of Sen. Coats and Sen. Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and many other parts of the world is a core part of what USAID has done for some time and continues to do. Our administration's policy is to continue to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent that the AP story and any other comment creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other ulterior purposes. That is simply inaccurate. (Sen. Leahy: Was it a covert program?) Absolutely not. It was conducted (Sen. Leahy: And was anyone at the US interests section of the Department of State or the White House aware of the facts of this program?) This program has been notified publicly in Congressional budget justifications dating back to 2008. (Sen. Leahy: I've read those and when I talk about bureaucrats, if you can figure out it mean this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us."

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus008455

A Twitter-like Cuban social media network that the U.S. government built to stir unrest was a "cockamamie" idea doomed to discovery and failure, the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Agency for International Development declared Tuesday. He said the agency didn't adequately describe to Congress the program it was secretly operating.

A key question for the hearings is whether the program endangered its users by concealing that the U.S. government was behind it. The network was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned there after traveling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

His voice rising in anger at moments, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said, "while we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception." He also said that from its inception, the program had "no possibility of working."

Rajiv Shah, USAID's top official, said the program, disclosed last week by The Associated Press, was part of the administration's efforts to provide new digital methods to increase the flow of information in and out of Cuba. Shah said the effort operated "discreetly" and was described in congressional budget justifications. But Leahy interrupted Shah to say he had read those budget documents.

"If you could figure out it meant this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us," Leahy said.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that USAID oversaw the creation of the text message-based service, dubbed ZunZuneo for the sound made by a Cuban hummingbird. USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington's ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP.

Shah said the AP's report had a number of critical inaccuracies, but he was not asked to describe them and did not specify his complaints. Though he could not say who came up with the idea for Zunzuneo, he said the agency operates transparently and was "absolutely not" operating a covert program.

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"While we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"The program was designed in 2007 and 2008, in that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- (Sen. Leahy: No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all in something that the Cubans would be so easy to discover."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 8, 2014

3. Mid of Sen. Coats and Sen. Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and many other parts of the world is a core part of what USAID has done for some time and continues to do. Our administration's policy is to continue to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent that the AP story and any other comment creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other ulterior purposes. That is simply inaccurate. (Sen. Leahy: Was it a covert program?) Absolutely not. It was conducted (Sen. Leahy: And was anyone at the US interests section of the Department of State or the White House aware of the facts of this program?) This program has been notified publicly in Congressional budget justifications dating back to 2008. (Sen. Leahy: I've read those and when I talk about bureaucrats, if you can figure out it mean this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us."

Colombia's government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia say they have agreed on the return of a handful of children living in the group's camps to civilian life.

Negotiators working on a peace deal in Havana said Sunday evening that they had agreed to move children younger than 15 out of the FARC's camps.

The head of the rebels' negotiating team told Colombian media last year that there were 13 children younger than 15 living among FARC fighters.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the agreement on his Twitter account, calling it "historic."

The two sides have been negotiating a peace accord since 2012 that would end their more-than 50 year war.

They missed a deadline for a final deal two months ago and have yet to reach agreement on a cease-fire and the disarming and demobilizing of rebels into temporary protected zones.

Colombia's government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia say they have agreed on the return of a handful of children living in the group's camps to civilian life.

Negotiators working on a peace deal in Havana said Sunday evening that they had agreed to move children younger than 15 out of the FARC's camps.

The head of the rebels' negotiating team told Colombian media last year that there were 13 children younger than 15 living among FARC fighters.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the agreement on his Twitter account, calling it "historic."

The two sides have been negotiating a peace accord since 2012 that would end their more-than 50 year war.

They missed a deadline for a final deal two months ago and have yet to reach agreement on a cease-fire and the disarming and demobilizing of rebels into temporary protected zones.

Havana – 15 May 2016

1. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) lead negotiator Ivan Marquez and Colombian government's lead negotiator Humberto de la Calle shaking hands before news conference

2. United Nations representative Leila Serrougui (left) and other officials

3. Colombian Foreign Minister Paula Gaviria seated before news conference

4. FARC and Colombian government negotiators seated before news conference

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ivan Marquez, top FARC commander and lead negotiator:

"Today, the government and the FARC reached a new agreement which will free underage children from the rigors of the conflict. We hope this decision will become the basis for all Colombians to become aware of the urgency to protect the rights of girls, boys and teenagers in the country."

6. De la Calle during news conference

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Humberto de la Calle, Colombian government's lead negotiator:

"Three important measures have been announced: the exit of children younger than 15 years old from the (FARC) camps, the creation of a plan to allow the progressive disassociation of all minors under 18, and the creation of a comprehensive program to provide the best care to these children who leave the war."

8. Serrougui giving speech

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Leila Serrougui, United Nations Representative:

"I call on all Colombian people to support this agreement, and to see this as a crucial element in constructing a durable peace for your country, and ensuring guarantees for non-repetition"

10. Pan right meeting

COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS TWITTER ACCOUNT - AP CLIENTS ONLY

16 May 2016

11. Various screen grabs of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' Twitter account welcoming the agreement

12. Screen grab of Santos' tweet reading (Spanish) "We reached a historic agreement in Havana to take children away from war"

The U.S. government masterminded the creation of a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba, built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign banks, The Associated Press has learned.

The Obama administration project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba's stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media platform. First, the network would build a Cuban audience, mostly young people; then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.

Yet its users were neither aware it was created by a U.S. agency with ties to the State Department, nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.

It is unclear whether the scheme was legal under U.S. law, which requires written authorization of covert action by the president and congressional notification. Officials at the USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it. USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said Thursday that it was not a covert program. The Cuban government declined a request for comment.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and chairman of the Appropriations Committee's State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, said he was not aware of the program.

"I'm aware of an awful lot of very good things U.S.A.I.D. does all around the world, everything from clean water to maternal health to immunizing children," he said. "Those are things we can all be proud of as Americans. This was not a very bright move on their part. And I don't know of many Americans who are going to think it was."

But Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla., defended the effort. "I think what we should be shocked about is that the Cubans have no access to Facebook or Twitter as opposed to the U.S. government trying to promote discourse, which I think is a very good thing," Garcia said. "It promotes the values that we as a country espouse, which is democracy, dissent, communication, conversation, and that's what this program was trying to do."

AP TELEVISION

Washington, DC - 3 April 2014

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"No, I was not aware of this program. I'm aware of an awful lot of very good things U.S.A.I.D. does all around the world, everything from clean water to maternal health to immunizing children. Those are things we can all be proud of as Americans. This was not a very bright move on their part. And I don't know of many Americans who are going to think it was."

--butt to--

"We'd accomplish a lot more if we'd just open up our relationships with Cuba. Their government wouldn't change. It doesn't mean we have to agree with their government, any more than they would with ours. But we do this with other countries, we do it with China, we do with other countries where we disagree with their form of government."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida:

"I think what we should be shocked about is that the Cubans have no access to Facebook or Twitter as opposed to the U.S. government trying to promote discourse, which I think is a very good thing. It promotes the values that we as a country espouse, which is democracy, dissent, communication, conversation, and that's what this program was trying to do."

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus008223

VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THURSDAY DEFENDED ITS CREATION OF A CUBAN COMMUNICATIONS SAYING IT WAS NOT A COVERT OPERATION.

SOUNDBITE (English) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson

"We believe that the Cuban people need platforms like this to use themselves to decide what their future will look like."

THE PROJECT'S SECRECY THOUGH.. SPARKED CRITICISM FROM SOME MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"This was not a very bright move on their part and I don't know many Americans that would think it was."

AN ASSOCIATED PRESS INVESTIGATION FOUND THE ZUNZUNEO NETWORK - FUNDED BY THE U-S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - WAS BUILT WITH SHELL COMPANIES AND FINANCED THROUGH A FOREIGN BANK.

THE GOAL-BUILD A CUBAN AUDIENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES AND PUSH THEM TOWARD DISSENT.

BUT WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS.. U-S AID AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT DENIED THE PROGRAM'S WAS SECRETIVE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary

"When you have a program like that in a non-permissive environment IE a place like cuba, you're discrete about how you implement it so you protect the practitioners but that does not make it covert."

SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY WHO CHAIRS THE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMMITTEE ON FOREIGN OPERATIONS SAYS.. *HE* WASN'T MADE AWARE OF THE EFFORT UNTIL THIS WEEK.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"We have something that now puts these young Cubans who didn't know who they were dealing with at risk because it would be so easy to go back and find out who they communicated with."

BUT SOME LAWMAKERS VOICED SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT WHICH ABRUPLTLY ENDED IN 2012

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida:

"I think what we should be shocked about is that the Cubans have no access to Facebook or Twitter as opposed to the U.S. government trying to promote discourse, which I think is a very good thing."

LAWMAKERS WILL GET THEIR CHANCE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - WHEN THE HEAD OF US-AID TESTIFIES ABOUT HIS AGENCY'S BUDGET NEXT WEEK.

ROBERT BUMSTED, ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

1. Wide file of the White House

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

2. Various of Cubans using cell phones

STATE DEPARTMENT TV

Washington - April 3, 2014

3. SOUNDBITE (english) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

4. Wide file of Capitol dome

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

5. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

6. Screenshot of ZunZuneo website

AP TELEVISION

Tbilisi, Georgia - August 27, 2008

7. USAID Logo

8. Wide of boxes being stacked by USAID workers

AP TELEVISION

Havana - April 3, 2014

9. Man walking with cell phone

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

10. Various of Cubans walking with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

11. Medium pan of documents related to the ZunZuneo website investigation

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

12. Wide shot of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary (transcript below)

14. Wide shot of Sen. Patrick Leahy

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

15. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

16. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

17. Wide of Rep. Joe Garcia

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

19. Wide of US Capitol Building

20. Medium exterior of US Agency for International Development

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THURSDAY DEFENDED ITS CREATION OF A CUBAN COMMUNICATIONS SAYING IT WAS NOT A COVERT OPERATION.

SOUNDBITE (English) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson

"We believe that the Cuban people need platforms like this to use themselves to decide what their future will look like."

THE PROJECT'S SECRECY THOUGH.. SPARKED CRITICISM FROM SOME MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"This was not a very bright move on their part and I don't know many Americans that would think it was."

AN ASSOCIATED PRESS INVESTIGATION FOUND THE ZUNZUNEO NETWORK - FUNDED BY THE U-S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - WAS BUILT WITH SHELL COMPANIES AND FINANCED THROUGH A FOREIGN BANK.

THE GOAL-BUILD A CUBAN AUDIENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES AND PUSH THEM TOWARD DISSENT.

BUT WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS.. U-S AID AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT DENIED THE PROGRAM'S WAS SECRETIVE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary

"When you have a program like that in a non-permissive environment IE a place like cuba, you're discrete about how you implement it so you protect the practitioners but that does not make it covert."

SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY WHO CHAIRS THE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMMITTEE ON FOREIGN OPERATIONS SAYS.. *HE* WASN'T MADE AWARE OF THE EFFORT UNTIL THIS WEEK.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"We have something that now puts these young Cubans who didn't know who they were dealing with at risk because it would be so easy to go back and find out who they communicated with."

BUT SOME LAWMAKERS VOICED SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT WHICH ABRUPLTLY ENDED IN 2012

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida:

"I think what we should be shocked about is that the Cubans have no access to Facebook or Twitter as opposed to the U.S. government trying to promote discourse, which I think is a very good thing."

LAWMAKERS WILL GET THEIR CHANCE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - WHEN THE HEAD OF US-AID TESTIFIES ABOUT HIS AGENCY'S BUDGET NEXT WEEK.

ROBERT BUMSTED, ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

1. Wide file of the White House

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

2. Various of Cubans using cell phones

STATE DEPARTMENT TV

Washington - April 3, 2014

3. SOUNDBITE (english) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

4. Wide file of Capitol dome

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

5. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

6. Screenshot of ZunZuneo website

AP TELEVISION

Tbilisi, Georgia - August 27, 2008

7. USAID Logo

8. Wide of boxes being stacked by USAID workers

AP TELEVISION

Havana - April 3, 2014

9. Man walking with cell phone

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

10. Various of Cubans walking with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

11. Medium pan of documents related to the ZunZuneo website investigation

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

12. Wide shot of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary (transcript below)

14. Wide shot of Sen. Patrick Leahy

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

15. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

16. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

17. Wide of Rep. Joe Garcia

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

19. Wide of US Capitol Building

20. Medium exterior of US Agency for International Development

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

A fierce debate erupted on social media pitting musicians and activists on both sides of the Florida Strait less than two months before a presidential election in the U.S., where the Cuban-American vote could determine the outcome of the winner in the swing state of Florida.

Musicians and pro and anti-Cuba activists traded gibes and insults on social media platforms like 'What'up" and Facebook, calling on their supporters to boycott and protest Cuban musicians performing in the U.S.

Some of the claims were aimed at Alexander Abreu, singer in the popular band Havana D'Primera, which has a wide following both on the island and in the U.S.

Posts on social media claimed he was anti-Cuban revolution, which he denied on the bands Facebook page, sparking a wide ranging debate on multiple platforms about the political leanings of various Cuban artists.

The accusations are not new.

In the past, many Cuban performers have been denounced for performing concerts in the U.S., especially in heavily Cuban populated communities like Tampa and Miami.

In Havana Friday, some big names amongst Cuban musicians gathered to decry the storm on social media, and call for solidarity and unity in support of the arts.

The harsh debate comes just as presidential campaigning enters its final phase in the state of Florida, where Cuban-American voters have been a determining factor in past elections.

Havana - 18 September 2020

1. Cuban musicians gathered

2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Samuel Formell, Member of Group 'Los Van Van':

"I think this affects the number of those who follow and enjoy our music, which is popular, but it mixes it with politics. They (Cubans in Miami) have tried to hurt us, and many Cuban artists with demonstrations, day by day, year by year, none of this is new, but now it's on social media."

3. Tweet by Carlos Fernandes de Cossío, Head of North American Affairs, Cuban Foreign Ministry  reads (Spanish) "The aim at mediatic lynching of Cuban artists who refuse to denigrate their country forms part of the well articulated and financed McCarthyist campaign to promote hate, intolerance, and fear among Cubans or descendants of Cubans who live in the United States."  

4. Photo of Cossío on his Twitter page on the internet

5. Musicians standing on a stage reacting to social media posts

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Diego Gutiérrez, Cuban singer and songwriter:

"We have to close ranks like we are doing here with Alexander Abreu, with everybody, it can happen to anyone at any moment."

ARCHIVE: Havana - 9 October 2015

7. Chucho Valdés, Jazz Musician performing in la Plaza de la Catedral Old Havana