On Thursday residents in Havana and members of the Cuban community in Miami reacted to the news that the United States government was behind the once-popular social media network ZunZuneo.

An investigative report by The Associated Press found that the U.S. government was behind the creation of the "Cuban Twitter" designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba.

The social media network was built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign bank transactions.

In Cuba, local resident Claudia Garcia said she was not surprised that the U.S. was behind it.

"These are political things that I don't have any knowledge of, but for nobody in the world is it a hidden thing that they have always been trying to harm our country and government. It can't be a surprise for us anymore. Coming from them, nothing can be a surprise," she said.

The social network lasted for more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers.

It gained an audience by offering users a social media platform that would first build a Cuban audience then later push them toward dissent.

On Thursday Cubavision ran a story with the findings of The Associated Press investigation.

The AP obtained more than 1,000 pages of documents from contractors about the development of ZunZuneo.

It independently verified the project's scope and details in the documents through publicly available databases, government sources and interviews with those involved in ZunZuneo.

AP's investigation showed the organisation behind this was the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal agency best known for overseeing billions of dollars in US humanitarian aid, which also has a mandate to spread democracy.

It is unclear whether the scheme was legal under U.S. law, which requires written authorisation of covert action by the president and congressional notification.

Officials at USAID would not say who had approved the programme or whether the White House was aware of it. The Cuban government declined a request for comment.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to muddy the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable - an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

The programme came to life after a USAID contractor obtained half-a-million cell phone numbers on the state-owned mobile network - Cubacel.

The contractor, Creative Associates International, based in Washington DC, was paid by USAID to hatch a plan to send text messages to Cuban cell phone owners.

Initially they sent messages about topics like the weather, soccer and music, to build an audience and so as not to alert the Cuban government.

Later they planned to push messages which they hoped would encourage dissent.

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba

++16:9++

1. Boats in Havana Bay, Castle Morro in background

2. Various of people and traffic

3. Man talking on cell phone

4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Claudia Garcia, Cuban:

"These are political things that I don't have any knowledge of, but for nobody in the world is it a hidden thing that they have always been trying to harm our country and government. It can't be a surprise for us anymore. Coming from them, nothing can be a surprise."

5. People walking

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Richard Cuantro, Cuban-American:

"I don't know anything about it. I hope it was like that, but I think it's a lie. The United States isn't interested in Cuba. If it's not interested in Venezuela, which is rotting in oil, this is rotten."

7. Man talking on cell phone

8. People walking and traffic

9. Exterior of Old Capitol building and traffic

AP TELEVISION

Hialeah, Florida

++16:9++

10. Jesus Yaber, owner of Cafeteria Victoria in Hialeah, walking with pastries

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jesus Yaber, owner of Cafeteria Victoria in Hialeah:

"Clearly, within the Cuban community they found out that they didn't know where it came from. In the end, we found out that it (ZunZuneo) was a communication created from here, from the US, to give Internet access to the community that didn't have it in Cuba."

12. Yaber organising Cuban pastries

13. Zoom out from pastries to Yaber walking into kitchen of caf�

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Belkis Hernandez, local resident:

"What do I think? I think it was a good thing. I hope that it gains momentum so that the people realise what is going on in the outside world and things change also in Cuba."

CUBAVISION

Havana, Cuba

++4:3++

15. Cubavision newscaster announcing Associated Press's story about the U.S. Government's involvement in the creation of a "Cuban Twitter"

16. Various of newscast ++ANNOUNCER VOICE THROUGHOUT++

A US official said on Friday that efforts by US government agency, USAID, to create a "twitter-like" network in Cuba was not a covert action.

Revelations of a secret US government programme to set up a cellphone-based social network in Cuba are being trumpeted in the island's official media as proof of Havana's repeated allegations that Washington is waging a "cyber-war" to try to stir up unrest.

"USAID kept the White House apprised of its efforts consistent with the way that they have other programmes of this kind elsewhere in the world," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

He also noted that the President and First Lady offered their condolences to the family of AP prize-winning photographer Anja Niedringhaus who was killed on Friday after an Afghan police commander opened fire on her and veteran correspondent Kathy Gannon, who was wounded in the attack.

At the State Department daily briefing, deputy spokesperson Marie Harf also mentioned the two AP journalists.

When asked about Russian troops in Ukraine, Harf said there had been no independent confirmation of any withdrawal of Russian forces from Crimea and the border region.

AP TELEVISION

1. White House spokesman Josh Earnest walks into briefing room

2. Mid of Earnest

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Josh Earnest, White House spokesman:

"Jim, there's no question that the President and his administration support efforts to help Cuban citizens communicate more easily with one another and with the outside world. Our involvement would have been the same in this instance as with any other development programme of this type. USAID kept the White House apprised of its efforts consistent with the way that they have other programmes of this kind elsewhere in the world."

4. Cutaway of reporters in briefing room

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Josh Earnest, White House spokesman:

"The thoughts and prayers of the First Lady and the President go out to the family of Anja Niedringhaus who was killed in Afghanistan overnight. The President and First Lady also send their best wishes and their prayers to Kathy Gannon, who was an AP reporter who was wounded in that incident."

6. Cutaway of Earnest

7. Earnest walks out of briefing room

DOS TV

8. Wide of US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf arriving

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marie Harf, US State Department spokeswoman:

"Today the Associated Press lost one of its own. Anja Niedringhaus, an internationally acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize winning German photographer. She was shot in Afghanistan's Khost province. A second Canadian journalist who worked for the AP kathy Gannon was also wounded."

10. Cutaway of reporter

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marie Harf, US State Department spokeswoman:

"That's there's still, you know, tens of thousands on the border with Ukraine. We cannot, last I heard, last I checked with our folks, independently confirm that there had been some troops moved off of it. Obviously we hope they will. But, no update on that."

12. Wide of briefing room

13. End of briefing

OLV TRACK:

AS HECTOR BARANDA WALKS THE CUBAN BEACH HE CALLS 'PARADISE', HE OFTEN THINKS WITH REGRET ABOUT SOME FOREIGN VISITORS HE MET IN COLLEGE - ONES HE THOUGHT WERE HIS FRIENDS.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban Student:

"We used to go to this or that restaurant at night, let's go here, let's go there. Let's go sit in the park, let's go to a piano bar, that was it.

BUT WHAT BARANDA DIDN'T KNOW - WAS THE YOUNG VENEZUELANS WERE PART OF A SECRET U.S. GOVERNMENT PLAN TO RECRUIT POLITICAL ACTIVISTS IN THE COMMUNIST COUNTRY.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban Student:

"How would you feel if you gave sincere friendship and get this type of news - I have never liked being manipulated"

DOCUMENTS OBTAINED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS REVEAL THE PLAN WAS SPEARHEADED BY THE U-S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

USAID IS BEST KNOWN FOR OVERSEEING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF AID TO THE WORLD'S POOR AND SICK. PART OF ITS MANDATE IS TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY.

HERE'S HOW THE PLAN WORKED:

A US-A-I-D CONTRACTOR CALLED CREATIVE ASSOCIATES RECRUITED YOUNG PEOPLE FROM 3 LATIN AMERICA COUNTRIES.

THOSE RECRUITS WERE TO HEAD TO CUBA TO FIND YOUNG PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BECOME ACTIVISTS AGAINST THE REGIME OF RAUL AND FIDEL CASTRO.

THE MAIN RECRUIT FROM COSTA RICA WAS FERNANDO MURILLO SEEN HERE ON THE LEFT - HE REFUSED TO BE INTERVIEWED ON CAMERA.

AS PART OF MURILLO'S WORK - AN HIV PREVENTION CLINIC WAS STAGED AT THIS SCHOOL. IT WAS A COVER TO REACH OUT TO STUDENTS WITHOUT DRAWING SUSPICION OF THE CUBAN AUTHORITIES. USAID SAID "CUBANS HAD EXPRESSED A DESIRE FOR INFORMATION AND TRAINING ABOUT HIV PREVENTION."

MANUEL BARBOSA INITIALLY WORKED WITH MURILLO'S GROUP - BUT LATER REALIZED WHO THEY ACTUALLY WERE.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Manuel Barbosa, Cuban student:

"When I look at the sponsors I see one of them is USAID and I said to him my activities cannot be associated with this person, with this group of people, and I do not wish to have association with USAID because it will bring me trouble in Cuba."

IN VENEZUELA - A POLITICAL ACTIVIST NAMED ZAIMAR CASTILLO - WAS HIRED TO ORGANIZE ANOTHER GROUP OF YOUNG ACTIVISTS TO GO TO CUBA

THEY STAYED AT A UNIVERSITY DORM, JUST OUTSIDE THE TOWN OF SANTA CLARA - AND TARGETED YOUNG PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF THE GAY COMMUNITY.

WE TRACKED DOWN CASTILLO IN DUBLIN, IRELAND WHERE SHE IS NOW STUDYING � BUT SHE REFUSED TO COMMENT

{nats door slam}

AS PART OF THE US-AID PLAN, RECRUITS WERE TAUGHT A SYSTEM OF CODED LANGUAGE IN CASE THEY RAN INTO TROUBLE.

'I HAVE A HEADACHE' MEANT - 'WE SUSPECT WE ARE BEING MONITORED'

OR 'RETURN HOME SOONER - YOUR SISTER IS ILL' MEANT - CUT THE TRIP SHORT AND LEAVE

AP ASKED USAID WHAT THE GOAL OF THE PROGRAMS WITH YOUNG CUBANS WAS. IT RESPONDED:

USAID and the Obama Administration are committed to supporting the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future. USAID works with independent youth groups in Cuba on community service projects, public health, the arts and other opportunities to engage publicly, consistent with democracy programs worldwide.

THE DOCUMENTS REVEAL THIS PLAN WAS PART OF A BIGGER PROGRAM - WHICH INCLUDED THE CREATION OF A CUBA TWITTER LIKE SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK - CALLED ZUNZUNEO - FIRST REPORTED BY THE AP IN APRIL.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: "When we learn the details of some of these programs, they are not only a great waste of money, but they compromise our missions elsewhere in the world."

SENATOR JEFF FLAKE IS PART OF THE CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF USAID'S ZUNZUNEO PROGRAM �

SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: "We have become even more brazen, or callous frankly -in the way we have gone about trying to affect policy there."

THE LATEST PROGRAM STARTED IN 2009 AND WENT ON FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS�

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban Student:

"I am very shocked by the news you are giving me - because they were our friends."

FRIENDS HECTOR BARANDA DIDN'T KNOW WERE FAKE, UNTIL INFORMED RECENTLY BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

DAVID BRUNS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Santa Lucia, Camaguey Cuba - July 11, 2014

1. Hector Baranda, who met Venezuelan activists in college, walks beach in Santa Lucia

2. Baranda talking to AP repoter near his home.

3. "SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban student:

"We used to go to a this or that restaurant at night, let's go here, let's go there. Let's go sit in the park, let's go to a piano bar. That was it."

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - February 28, 2014

4. Various shots of traffic around Havana, Cuba

5. "SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban student:

"How would you feel if you gave sincere friendship and get this type of news? I have never liked being manipulated."

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

6. Various of printed documents obtained in AP investigation

7. Various exterior shots of USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C.

AP PHOTOS

Village of Anin, West Bank - June 4, 2008

8. Associated Press Photo showing Palestinians unloading bags of flour donated by USAID

AP TELEVISION

Gaza City - June 6, 2010

9. A Palestinian pupil walks past sacks of flour donated by USAID.

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

10. Front door to office building that houses Creative Associates International, a subcontractor for USAID programs

AP GRAPHICS

11. Graphic Map showing Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela in relation to Cuba and the United States.

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - February 28, 2014

12. People walking street in Havana, Cuba

AP PHOTOS

April 19, 2011

13. Photograph showing Raul Castro and Fidel, attending the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba

++VIDEO HAS BEEN ALTERED TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF MAN WITH MURILLO++

AP TELEVISION

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

14. Walking shot of Fernando Murillo, a contracted activist, shown in blue jeans and blue button down shirt

15. Medium shot of Murillo meeting with AP reporter in cafe

AP TELEVISION

Santa Clara, Cuba - July 11, 2014

16. Wide of entrance to Manuel Ascunce Domenech school, where Costa Rican activist Fernando Murillo held an HIV clinic

17. Close of sign of school

18. Wide of school sign

AP GRAPHICS

19. Graphic reading: "Cubans had expressed a desire for information and training about HIV prevention."

AP TELEVISION

20. Cuban student Manuel Barbosa, who met Costa Rican activist Fernando Murillo talks to AP reporter

21. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Manuel Barbosa, college student:

"When I look at the sponsors, I see one of them is USAID and I said to him my activities cannot be associated with this person, with this group of people. I do not wish to have any association with USAID because it will bring me trouble in Cuba"

AP TELEVISION

Caracas, Venezuela - Recent

22. Various wide shots of Caracus, Venezuela

AP GRAPHICS

23. Facebook screenshot of photo of Zaimar Castillo - a Venezuelan contractor

AP TELEVISION

Santa Clara, Cuba - July 11, 2014

24. Various of University "Marta Abreau" where Venezuelan activists visited and reached out fo Cuban young people

AP TELEVISION

Dublin, Ireland - July 25, 2014

25. Zaimer Castillo, a Venezuelan activist who organized other Venezuelans to target Cuban college students runs into house to avoid AP reporter

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - Recent

26. Wide of USAID flag

AP GRAPHICS

27. Graphic statement from USAID reading translations for coded language, including: "I have a headache" means "We suspect we are being monitored" and "Return home sooner, your sister is ill" means "Cut the trip short and leave."

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

28. Exterior shot of USAID office in Washington, DC

AP GRAPHICS

29. Graphic statement from USAID Reading: USAID and the Obama Administration are committed to supporting the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future. USAID works with independent youth groups in Cuba on community service projects, public health, the arts and other opportunities to engage publicly, consistent with democracy programs worldwide.

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - February 28, 2014

30. Various Cubans using cell phones, which was the focal point of USAID's ZunZuneo program

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

31. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: (transcription below)

32. Tight of Flake working in his office.

33. Wide of US Capitol building.

34. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: (transcription below)

35. Various of printed documents obtained in AP investigation

AP TELEVISION

Santa Lucia, Camaguey Cuba - July 11, 2014

36. "SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Baranda 26 years, Cuban student: (transcription below)

37. Baranda walking away on beach

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus014858

OLV TRACK:

AS HECTOR BARANDA WALKS THE CUBAN BEACH HE CALLS 'PARADISE', HE OFTEN THINKS WITH REGRET ABOUT SOME FOREIGN VISITORS HE MET IN COLLEGE - ONES HE THOUGHT WERE HIS FRIENDS.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban Student:

"We used to go to this or that restaurant at night, let's go here, let's go there. Let's go sit in the park, let's go to a piano bar, that was it.

BUT WHAT BARANDA DIDN'T KNOW - WAS THE YOUNG VENEZUELANS WERE PART OF A SECRET U.S. GOVERNMENT PLAN TO RECRUIT POLITICAL ACTIVISTS IN THE COMMUNIST COUNTRY.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban Student:

"How would you feel if you gave sincere friendship and get this type of news - I have never liked being manipulated"

DOCUMENTS OBTAINED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS REVEAL THE PLAN WAS SPEARHEADED BY THE U-S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

USAID IS BEST KNOWN FOR OVERSEEING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF AID TO THE WORLD'S POOR AND SICK. PART OF ITS MANDATE IS TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY.

HERE'S HOW THE PLAN WORKED:

A US-A-I-D CONTRACTOR CALLED CREATIVE ASSOCIATES RECRUITED YOUNG PEOPLE FROM 3 LATIN AMERICA COUNTRIES.

THOSE RECRUITS WERE TO HEAD TO CUBA TO FIND YOUNG PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BECOME ACTIVISTS AGAINST THE REGIME OF RAUL AND FIDEL CASTRO.

THE MAIN RECRUIT FROM COSTA RICA WAS FERNANDO MURILLO SEEN HERE ON THE LEFT - HE REFUSED TO BE INTERVIEWED ON CAMERA.

AS PART OF MURILLO'S WORK - AN HIV PREVENTION CLINIC WAS STAGED AT THIS SCHOOL. IT WAS A COVER TO REACH OUT TO STUDENTS WITHOUT DRAWING SUSPICION OF THE CUBAN AUTHORITIES. USAID SAID "CUBANS HAD EXPRESSED A DESIRE FOR INFORMATION AND TRAINING ABOUT HIV PREVENTION."

MANUEL BARBOSA INITIALLY WORKED WITH MURILLO'S GROUP - BUT LATER REALIZED WHO THEY ACTUALLY WERE.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Manuel Barbosa, Cuban student:

"When I look at the sponsors I see one of them is USAID and I said to him my activities cannot be associated with this person, with this group of people, and I do not wish to have association with USAID because it will bring me trouble in Cuba."

IN VENEZUELA - A POLITICAL ACTIVIST NAMED ZAIMAR CASTILLO - WAS HIRED TO ORGANIZE ANOTHER GROUP OF YOUNG ACTIVISTS TO GO TO CUBA

THEY STAYED AT A UNIVERSITY DORM, JUST OUTSIDE THE TOWN OF SANTA CLARA - AND TARGETED YOUNG PEOPLE AND MEMBERS OF THE GAY COMMUNITY.

WE TRACKED DOWN CASTILLO IN DUBLIN, IRELAND WHERE SHE IS NOW STUDYING � BUT SHE REFUSED TO COMMENT

{nats door slam}

AS PART OF THE US-AID PLAN, RECRUITS WERE TAUGHT A SYSTEM OF CODED LANGUAGE IN CASE THEY RAN INTO TROUBLE.

'I HAVE A HEADACHE' MEANT - 'WE SUSPECT WE ARE BEING MONITORED'

OR 'RETURN HOME SOONER - YOUR SISTER IS ILL' MEANT - CUT THE TRIP SHORT AND LEAVE

AP ASKED USAID WHAT THE GOAL OF THE PROGRAMS WITH YOUNG CUBANS WAS. IT RESPONDED:

USAID and the Obama Administration are committed to supporting the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future. USAID works with independent youth groups in Cuba on community service projects, public health, the arts and other opportunities to engage publicly, consistent with democracy programs worldwide.

THE DOCUMENTS REVEAL THIS PLAN WAS PART OF A BIGGER PROGRAM - WHICH INCLUDED THE CREATION OF A CUBA TWITTER LIKE SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK - CALLED ZUNZUNEO - FIRST REPORTED BY THE AP IN APRIL.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: "When we learn the details of some of these programs, they are not only a great waste of money, but they compromise our missions elsewhere in the world."

SENATOR JEFF FLAKE IS PART OF THE CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF USAID'S ZUNZUNEO PROGRAM �

SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: "We have become even more brazen, or callous frankly -in the way we have gone about trying to affect policy there."

THE LATEST PROGRAM STARTED IN 2009 AND WENT ON FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS�

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban Student:

"I am very shocked by the news you are giving me - because they were our friends."

FRIENDS HECTOR BARANDA DIDN'T KNOW WERE FAKE, UNTIL INFORMED RECENTLY BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

DAVID BRUNS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Santa Lucia, Camaguey Cuba - July 11, 2014

1. Hector Baranda, who met Venezuelan activists in college, walks beach in Santa Lucia

2. Baranda talking to AP repoter near his home.

3. "SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban student:

"We used to go to a this or that restaurant at night, let's go here, let's go there. Let's go sit in the park, let's go to a piano bar. That was it."

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - February 28, 2014

4. Various shots of traffic around Havana, Cuba

5. "SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Baranda, Cuban student:

"How would you feel if you gave sincere friendship and get this type of news? I have never liked being manipulated."

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

6. Various of printed documents obtained in AP investigation

7. Various exterior shots of USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C.

AP PHOTOS

Village of Anin, West Bank - June 4, 2008

8. Associated Press Photo showing Palestinians unloading bags of flour donated by USAID

AP TELEVISION

Gaza City - June 6, 2010

9. A Palestinian pupil walks past sacks of flour donated by USAID.

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

10. Front door to office building that houses Creative Associates International, a subcontractor for USAID programs

AP GRAPHICS

11. Graphic Map showing Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela in relation to Cuba and the United States.

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - February 28, 2014

12. People walking street in Havana, Cuba

AP PHOTOS

April 19, 2011

13. Photograph showing Raul Castro and Fidel, attending the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba

++VIDEO HAS BEEN ALTERED TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF MAN WITH MURILLO++

AP TELEVISION

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

14. Walking shot of Fernando Murillo, a contracted activist, shown in blue jeans and blue button down shirt

15. Medium shot of Murillo meeting with AP reporter in cafe

AP TELEVISION

Santa Clara, Cuba - July 11, 2014

16. Wide of entrance to Manuel Ascunce Domenech school, where Costa Rican activist Fernando Murillo held an HIV clinic

17. Close of sign of school

18. Wide of school sign

AP GRAPHICS

19. Graphic reading: "Cubans had expressed a desire for information and training about HIV prevention."

AP TELEVISION

20. Cuban student Manuel Barbosa, who met Costa Rican activist Fernando Murillo talks to AP reporter

21. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Manuel Barbosa, college student:

"When I look at the sponsors, I see one of them is USAID and I said to him my activities cannot be associated with this person, with this group of people. I do not wish to have any association with USAID because it will bring me trouble in Cuba"

AP TELEVISION

Caracas, Venezuela - Recent

22. Various wide shots of Caracus, Venezuela

AP GRAPHICS

23. Facebook screenshot of photo of Zaimar Castillo - a Venezuelan contractor

AP TELEVISION

Santa Clara, Cuba - July 11, 2014

24. Various of University "Marta Abreau" where Venezuelan activists visited and reached out fo Cuban young people

AP TELEVISION

Dublin, Ireland - July 25, 2014

25. Zaimer Castillo, a Venezuelan activist who organized other Venezuelans to target Cuban college students runs into house to avoid AP reporter

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - Recent

26. Wide of USAID flag

AP GRAPHICS

27. Graphic statement from USAID reading translations for coded language, including: "I have a headache" means "We suspect we are being monitored" and "Return home sooner, your sister is ill" means "Cut the trip short and leave."

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

28. Exterior shot of USAID office in Washington, DC

AP GRAPHICS

29. Graphic statement from USAID Reading: USAID and the Obama Administration are committed to supporting the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future. USAID works with independent youth groups in Cuba on community service projects, public health, the arts and other opportunities to engage publicly, consistent with democracy programs worldwide.

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - February 28, 2014

30. Various Cubans using cell phones, which was the focal point of USAID's ZunZuneo program

AP TELEVISION

Washington, D.C. - July 30, 2014

31. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: (transcription below)

32. Tight of Flake working in his office.

33. Wide of US Capitol building.

34. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Jeff Flake, (R ) Arizona: (transcription below)

35. Various of printed documents obtained in AP investigation

AP TELEVISION

Santa Lucia, Camaguey Cuba - July 11, 2014

36. "SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Baranda 26 years, Cuban student: (transcription below)

37. Baranda walking away on beach

A key US Senator criticised during a hearing on Tuesday a Twitter-like social media network secretly created by the United States in Cuba, calling it a "cockamamie idea".

Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, who is also the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the US Agency for International Development (USAID), demanded to know who came up with the idea to launch the project.

USAID administrator Rajiv Shah said he did not specifically know whose idea it was.

A key question for the hearings is whether the program endangered its users by concealing that the US 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 travelling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

"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," Leahy said.

He also added that the program had "no possibility of working" from its inception.

An AP investigation last week found the program evaded Cuba's Internet restrictions by creating a text-messaging service that could be used to organise political demonstrations.

It drew tens of thousands of subscribers who were unaware it was backed by the Obama administration.

Draft messages produced by the social network, obtained by AP, were overtly political and some taunted the ruling Castro family.

The new disclosures came as the head of the USAID told Congress on Tuesday that the program was never intended to stir unrest within Cuba's government.

ABC - NO ACCESS NORTH AMERICA

1.Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) entering the chambers and shaking hands with Patrick Leahy, United States Democratic Senator for Vermont and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, 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, at that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program."

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont: ++OFF CAMERA, SHAH IN VISION++

"No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I've read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all and 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.

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

"Sir, the program was in place before I arrived."

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont: ++OFF CAMERA, SHAH IN VISION++

"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?

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

"Well first let me say and I know this is important sir and I greatly respect your point of view but that AP (Associated Press) story had a number of critical inaccuracies.

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont: ++OFF CAMERA, SHAH IN VISION++

"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?

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

"I do not specifically, but I'll say this. Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and in 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."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont: ++OFF CAMERA, SHAH IN VISION++

"Was it a covert program?

12. UPSOUND (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"Absolutely not."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 April 2014

13. Indiana Republican senator Dan Coats and Arkansas Republican senator John Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - 8 April 2014

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

"They don't always work and I'll be the first to admit that, but often they do."

15. UPSOUND (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont: ++PANS FROM SHAH TO LEAHY++

"This one from the get go had no possibility of working. That's my problem."

16. Rajiv Shah getting up after the hearing

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

HEADLINE: Singer Juanes getting threats over Cuba concert

CAPTION: Latin pop singer Juanes has filed a police report over his safety, after reportedly receiving threatening messages over plans to perform in Cuba next month. (Aug. 21)

[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]

NB. THIS IS A VOICEOVER TRANSCRIPT, NOT A FULL SHOT LIST.

Latin singing star Juanes says he fears for his safety as well as his family.

That's according to a police report he filed in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lives.

And it's all over a concert he has planned for next month.

It's in Cuba -- and that has led to threatening messages on Juanes' Twitter account.

He says one message read "I hate what you are saying but you will die for defending your right to say it."

Some Cuban-Americans in Miami have criticized the event, saying that it endorses the Communist-led government of Fidel and Raul Castro.

But Juanes -- a 17-time Latin Grammy winner, who is from Colombia, is known for his social activism.

In 2008, he held a "Peace Without Borders" concert at the border between Venezuela and Colombia when tensions were high between the two nations. The show drew tens of thousands of people.

He planned to hold another _Peace Without Borders _ concert in Havana on September 20th

Police say they're taking the threats seriously and keeping a watch on Juanes.

Event promoters insist the Havana concert will have no ideological overtones.

Juanes admits he considered canceling the show -- but his spokesman says the show will go on.

He attributes the negative comments to a small number of extremists.

ANCHOR LEAD IN

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

The 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 that would first build a Cuban audience then later 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.

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 USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to contradict the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable - an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

VOICEOVER SCRIPT

ON THE BUSTLING STREETS OF HAVANA PEOPLE STILL TALK ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - A SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK THAT EXPLODED IN POPULARITY.

CUBAN SLANG FOR HUMMINGBIRD � IT EVOKED THE IMAGE OF TWITTER AND HAD TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CELL PHONE USERS.

ERNESTO GUERRA WAS ONE.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, Ex-ZunZuneo User:

"You would log on and write 140 characters. It was free of charge."

BUT WHAT GUERRA DIDN'T KNOW WAS THAT ZUNZUNEO WAS PART OF A U.S. PLAN DESIGNED TO UNDERMINE THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT RAUL CASTRO�. AND HIS BROTHER FIDEL.

AP's INVESTIGATION SHOW THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THIS WAS THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, A FEDERAL AGENCY BEST KNOWN FOR OVERSEEING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN U.S .HUMANITARIAN AID; WHICH ALSO HAS A MANDATE TO SPREAD DEMOCRACY.

THE SECRET PLAN WAS LED BY USAID MANAGER JOE MCSPEDON WHO REFUSED TO TALK TO AP -

SOT: Nats - Reporter: Was this a covert plan?"

LATER, A US AID SPOKESMAN TOLD AP "NOTHING ABOUT USAID'S CUBA PROGRAMS IS CLASSIFIED OR COVERT IN ANY WAY. WE CARRY OUT PROGRAMS IN A DISCREET MANNER TO HELP ENSURE THE SAFETY OF ALL THOSE INVOLVED"

THE PROGRAM CAME TO LIFE WHEN U.S.A.I.D CONTRACTOR OBTAINED HALF-A-MILLION CELL PHONE NUMBERS ON THE STATE-OWNED MOBILE NETWORK.

THE CONTRACTOR, CREATIVE ASSOCIATES, BASED IN WASHINGTON DC, WAS PAID BY USAID TO HATCH A PLAN TO SEND TEXT MESSAGES TO CUBANS' CELL PHONE OWNERS.

INITIALLY THEY SENT MESSAGES ABOUT TOPICS LIKE THE WEATHER, SOCCER AND MUSIC - TO BUILD AN AUDIENCE AND SO AS NOT TO ALERT THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT . LATER THEY PLANNED TO PUSH MESSAGES WHICH THEY HOPED WOULD ENCOURAGE DISSENT . ONE U.S.A.I.D DOCUMENT SAID THE AIM WAS TO "RENEGOTIATE THE BALANCE OF POWER BETWEEN THE STATE AND SOCIETY."

SECRECY WAS CRITICAL

'THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT', READS ONE INTERNAL MEMO OBTAINED BY THE A-P.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Analyst:

"They didn't want anyone to know what they were up to"

FORMER CIA ANALYST FULTON ARMSTRONG WAS WORKING FOR THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE AT THE TIME. HE SAID TENSIONS BETWEEN CONGRESS AND U.S.A.I.D OVER WHAT APPEARED TO BE CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS STARTED BEFORE THE ZUN-ZUNEO PROJECT WAS LAUNCHED.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Analyst:

"We were told we couldn't even be told in broad terms what was happening, because quote, people will die"

U.S.A.I.D SAID IN A STATEMENT THAT IT IS "PROUD OF ITS WORK IN CUBA TO PROVIDE BASIC HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, AND TO HELP INFORMATION FLOW MORE FREELY TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE," WHOM IT SAID HAVE LIVED UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME" FOR FIFTY YEARS.

THE AGENCY SAID ITS WORK WAS FOUND TO BE "CONSISTENT.WITH U.S. LAW."

THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ZUN-ZUNEO TEAM TO TEST THE BLAST MESSAGES CAME IN SEPTEMBER OF 2009 - WHEN THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE GATHERED FOR A CONCERT BY LATIN STAR JUANES IN REVOLUTION PLAZA IN HAVANA.

IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE CONCERT - ZUN-ZUNEO SENT OUT HALF A MILLION MESSAGES TO SEE IF CUBAN OFFICIALS REACTED.

OVERSEAS FRONT COMPANIES, FINANCED FROM A BANK IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS, WERE SET UP TO PREVENT CUBAN AUTHORITIES FROM TRACING THE REAL SOURCE OF THE MESSAGES.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst: "it's a really sad story - when you have bureaucrats with some political intervention going around running operations for which there's no oversight, no transparency."

THE PLAN NEVER GOT TO THE POINT WHERE ANY MESSAGES WERE SENT TO SPARK dissent AGAINST THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT.

IN 2012 THE TEXTING SERVICE TOPPED ABRUPTLY WHEN USAID SAID THE FUNDING ENDED.

Ernesto Guerra, Ex-Zunzuneo User:

Damn! I was on the service for so long and never realized what it really was?"

GUERRA WASN'T THE ONLY ONE.

UNTIL NOW FEW KNEW ZUN-ZUNEO'S REAL PURPOSE. FOR YOUNG CUBANS ITS DISAPPEARANCE WAS AS MYSTERIOUS AS ITS ORIGINS.

DAVID BRUNS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 28 February 2014

1. Wide Old Capitol building and traffic

2. Traffic on Havana street with Old Capitol building in background

3. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

4. Split box showing Cubans using cell phones, ZunZuneo logo

5. Cutaway shot of Ernesto Guerra and Saimi Reyes who had used ZunZuneo

6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra: Ex-ZunZuneo User (Transcribed Below)

7. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

8. Waist shot showing Cuban woman using cell phone

9. Medium, Cubans holding cell phones

CUBAVISION

Havana, January 28, 2008

10. Raul Castro waving flag at night march

Havana, October 10, 2006

11. Fidel Castro holding phone after surgery

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 28, 2014

12. Panning shot of documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

March 21, 2014

11. Various exteriors of offices for US Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C.

12. Wide USAID flag outside of USAID offices

AP TELEVISION

++4x3 FILE Tbilisi - August 27, 2008

13. Wide of building in Tbilisi, Georgia where USAID boxes are being loaded and sorted during conflict with Russia in 2008.

Washington - 31 March 2014

14. Walking shot of Joe McSpedon, a US AID manager who headed the ZunZuneo project - UPSOUND: Reporter: Was this a covert operation?'

15. Graphic showing USAID logo with statement to AP: "Nothing about USAID's Cuba programs is classified or covert in any way. We carry out programs in a discreet manner to help ensure the safety of all those involved."

16. Medium shot of USAID flag

17. Medium shot of Cubans on cellphones

Havana - 20 March 2014

18. Exterior shot of Cubacel storefront

Washington - 21 March 2014

19. Close shot of Creative Associates offices in Washington, D.C., a subcontractor for USAID awarded 99 million in government funds last year

20. Wide shot of sign for Creative Associates offices in Washington, D.C.

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

September 9, 2008

22. Various of Hurricane Ike hitting Havana, waves breaking against road in El Malecon

Havana - Recent

23. More medium shots of Cubans using cell phones

24. Graphic reading: "renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society."

25. Graphic showing quote from Mobile Accord ZunZuneo document reading: "There will be no mention of United States government involvement"

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

26. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

27. Cutaway shot of Armstrong at his office computer - more Cubans using cell phones

28. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

Washington - March 21, 2014

29. Close shot of USAID log on building

30. Graphic from USAID statement reading: "Proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people"

Havana - Recent

31. Shot of people in Havana walking on street

Washington - March 21, 2014

32. Close shot of USAID log on building

POOL

Havana, September 20, 2009

33. Various of Colombian music star Juanes performing at a massive concert in Cuba's Revolution Plaza

AP TELEVISION

Washington, Recent

34. USAID flag waving, dissolves into map showing Cuba in relation to Cayman Islands

35. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

Havana - March 28, 2014

36. Shot of family on Cuba's Malecon in Havana

37. Various of Cubans using cell phones

Havana - 28 February 2014

38. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, Ex-ZunZuneo User (Transcribed Below)

39. Shot of Cuban using cell phone in car.

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 28, 2014

40. Shot of documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

41. Closing shot of Cuban sitting on Malecon in Havana.

ANCHOR LEAD IN

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

The 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 that would first build a Cuban audience then later 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.

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 USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to contradict the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable - an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

VOICEOVER SCRIPT

ON THE BUSTLING STREETS OF HAVANA PEOPLE STILL TALK ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - A SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK THAT EXPLODED IN POPULARITY.

CUBAN SLANG FOR HUMMINGBIRD � IT EVOKED THE IMAGE OF TWITTER AND HAD TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CELL PHONE USERS.

ERNESTO GUERRA WAS ONE.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, Ex-ZunZuneo User:

"You would log on and write 140 characters. It was free of charge."

BUT WHAT GUERRA DIDN'T KNOW WAS THAT ZUNZUNEO WAS PART OF A U.S. PLAN DESIGNED TO UNDERMINE THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT RAUL CASTRO�. AND HIS BROTHER FIDEL.

AP's INVESTIGATION SHOW THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THIS WAS THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, A FEDERAL AGENCY BEST KNOWN FOR OVERSEEING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN U.S .HUMANITARIAN AID; WHICH ALSO HAS A MANDATE TO SPREAD DEMOCRACY.

THE SECRET PLAN WAS LED BY USAID MANAGER JOE MCSPEDON WHO REFUSED TO TALK TO AP -

SOT: Nats - Reporter: Was this a covert plan?"

LATER, A US AID SPOKESMAN TOLD AP "NOTHING ABOUT USAID'S CUBA PROGRAMS IS CLASSIFIED OR COVERT IN ANY WAY. WE CARRY OUT PROGRAMS IN A DISCREET MANNER TO HELP ENSURE THE SAFETY OF ALL THOSE INVOLVED"

THE PROGRAM CAME TO LIFE WHEN U.S.A.I.D CONTRACTOR OBTAINED HALF-A-MILLION CELL PHONE NUMBERS ON THE STATE-OWNED MOBILE NETWORK.

THE CONTRACTOR, CREATIVE ASSOCIATES, BASED IN WASHINGTON DC, WAS PAID BY USAID TO HATCH A PLAN TO SEND TEXT MESSAGES TO CUBANS' CELL PHONE OWNERS.

INITIALLY THEY SENT MESSAGES ABOUT TOPICS LIKE THE WEATHER, SOCCER AND MUSIC - TO BUILD AN AUDIENCE AND SO AS NOT TO ALERT THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT . LATER THEY PLANNED TO PUSH MESSAGES WHICH THEY HOPED WOULD ENCOURAGE DISSENT . ONE U.S.A.I.D DOCUMENT SAID THE AIM WAS TO "RENEGOTIATE THE BALANCE OF POWER BETWEEN THE STATE AND SOCIETY."

SECRECY WAS CRITICAL

'THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT', READS ONE INTERNAL MEMO OBTAINED BY THE A-P.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Analyst:

"They didn't want anyone to know what they were up to"

FORMER CIA ANALYST FULTON ARMSTRONG WAS WORKING FOR THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE AT THE TIME. HE SAID TENSIONS BETWEEN CONGRESS AND U.S.A.I.D OVER WHAT APPEARED TO BE CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS STARTED BEFORE THE ZUN-ZUNEO PROJECT WAS LAUNCHED.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Analyst:

"We were told we couldn't even be told in broad terms what was happening, because quote, people will die"

U.S.A.I.D SAID IN A STATEMENT THAT IT IS "PROUD OF ITS WORK IN CUBA TO PROVIDE BASIC HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, AND TO HELP INFORMATION FLOW MORE FREELY TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE," WHOM IT SAID HAVE LIVED UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME" FOR FIFTY YEARS.

THE AGENCY SAID ITS WORK WAS FOUND TO BE "CONSISTENT.WITH U.S. LAW."

THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ZUN-ZUNEO TEAM TO TEST THE BLAST MESSAGES CAME IN SEPTEMBER OF 2009 - WHEN THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE GATHERED FOR A CONCERT BY LATIN STAR JUANES IN REVOLUTION PLAZA IN HAVANA.

IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE CONCERT - ZUN-ZUNEO SENT OUT HALF A MILLION MESSAGES TO SEE IF CUBAN OFFICIALS REACTED.

OVERSEAS FRONT COMPANIES, FINANCED FROM A BANK IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS, WERE SET UP TO PREVENT CUBAN AUTHORITIES FROM TRACING THE REAL SOURCE OF THE MESSAGES.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst: "it's a really sad story - when you have bureaucrats with some political intervention going around running operations for which there's no oversight, no transparency."

THE PLAN NEVER GOT TO THE POINT WHERE ANY MESSAGES WERE SENT TO SPARK dissent AGAINST THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT.

IN 2012 THE TEXTING SERVICE TOPPED ABRUPTLY WHEN USAID SAID THE FUNDING ENDED.

Ernesto Guerra, Ex-Zunzuneo User:

Damn! I was on the service for so long and never realized what it really was?"

GUERRA WASN'T THE ONLY ONE.

UNTIL NOW FEW KNEW ZUN-ZUNEO'S REAL PURPOSE. FOR YOUNG CUBANS ITS DISAPPEARANCE WAS AS MYSTERIOUS AS ITS ORIGINS.

DAVID BRUNS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 28 February 2014

1. Wide Old Capitol building and traffic

2. Traffic on Havana street with Old Capitol building in background

3. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

4. Split box showing Cubans using cell phones, ZunZuneo logo

5. Cutaway shot of Ernesto Guerra and Saimi Reyes who had used ZunZuneo

6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra: Ex-ZunZuneo User (Transcribed Below)

7. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

8. Waist shot showing Cuban woman using cell phone

9. Medium, Cubans holding cell phones

CUBAVISION

Havana, January 28, 2008

10. Raul Castro waving flag at night march

Havana, October 10, 2006

11. Fidel Castro holding phone after surgery

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 28, 2014

12. Panning shot of documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

March 21, 2014

11. Various exteriors of offices for US Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C.

12. Wide USAID flag outside of USAID offices

AP TELEVISION

++4x3 FILE Tbilisi - August 27, 2008

13. Wide of building in Tbilisi, Georgia where USAID boxes are being loaded and sorted during conflict with Russia in 2008.

Washington - 31 March 2014

14. Walking shot of Joe McSpedon, a US AID manager who headed the ZunZuneo project - UPSOUND: Reporter: Was this a covert operation?'

15. Graphic showing USAID logo with statement to AP: "Nothing about USAID's Cuba programs is classified or covert in any way. We carry out programs in a discreet manner to help ensure the safety of all those involved."

16. Medium shot of USAID flag

17. Medium shot of Cubans on cellphones

Havana - 20 March 2014

18. Exterior shot of Cubacel storefront

Washington - 21 March 2014

19. Close shot of Creative Associates offices in Washington, D.C., a subcontractor for USAID awarded 99 million in government funds last year

20. Wide shot of sign for Creative Associates offices in Washington, D.C.

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

September 9, 2008

22. Various of Hurricane Ike hitting Havana, waves breaking against road in El Malecon

Havana - Recent

23. More medium shots of Cubans using cell phones

24. Graphic reading: "renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society."

25. Graphic showing quote from Mobile Accord ZunZuneo document reading: "There will be no mention of United States government involvement"

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

26. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

27. Cutaway shot of Armstrong at his office computer - more Cubans using cell phones

28. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

Washington - March 21, 2014

29. Close shot of USAID log on building

30. Graphic from USAID statement reading: "Proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people"

Havana - Recent

31. Shot of people in Havana walking on street

Washington - March 21, 2014

32. Close shot of USAID log on building

POOL

Havana, September 20, 2009

33. Various of Colombian music star Juanes performing at a massive concert in Cuba's Revolution Plaza

AP TELEVISION

Washington, Recent

34. USAID flag waving, dissolves into map showing Cuba in relation to Cayman Islands

35. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

Havana - March 28, 2014

36. Shot of family on Cuba's Malecon in Havana

37. Various of Cubans using cell phones

Havana - 28 February 2014

38. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, Ex-ZunZuneo User (Transcribed Below)

39. Shot of Cuban using cell phone in car.

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 28, 2014

40. Shot of documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

41. Closing shot of Cuban sitting on Malecon in Havana.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus008163

ANCHOR LEAD IN

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

The 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 that would first build a Cuban audience then later 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.

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 USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to contradict the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable - an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

VOICEOVER SCRIPT

ON THE BUSTLING STREETS OF HAVANA PEOPLE STILL TALK ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - A SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK THAT EXPLODED IN POPULARITY.

CUBAN SLANG FOR HUMMINGBIRD � IT EVOKED THE IMAGE OF TWITTER AND HAD TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CELL PHONE USERS.

ERNESTO GUERRA WAS ONE.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, Ex-ZunZuneo User:

"You would log on and write 140 characters. It was free of charge."

BUT WHAT GUERRA DIDN'T KNOW WAS THAT ZUNZUNEO WAS PART OF A U.S. PLAN DESIGNED TO UNDERMINE THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT RAUL CASTRO�. AND HIS BROTHER FIDEL.

AP's INVESTIGATION SHOW THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THIS WAS THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, A FEDERAL AGENCY BEST KNOWN FOR OVERSEEING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN U.S .HUMANITARIAN AID; WHICH ALSO HAS A MANDATE TO SPREAD DEMOCRACY.

THE SECRET PLAN WAS LED BY USAID MANAGER JOE MCSPEDON WHO REFUSED TO TALK TO AP -

SOT: Nats - Reporter: Was this a covert plan?"

LATER, A US AID SPOKESMAN TOLD AP "NOTHING ABOUT USAID'S CUBA PROGRAMS IS CLASSIFIED OR COVERT IN ANY WAY. WE CARRY OUT PROGRAMS IN A DISCREET MANNER TO HELP ENSURE THE SAFETY OF ALL THOSE INVOLVED"

THE PROGRAM CAME TO LIFE WHEN U.S.A.I.D CONTRACTOR OBTAINED HALF-A-MILLION CELL PHONE NUMBERS ON THE STATE-OWNED MOBILE NETWORK.

THE CONTRACTOR, CREATIVE ASSOCIATES, BASED IN WASHINGTON DC, WAS PAID BY USAID TO HATCH A PLAN TO SEND TEXT MESSAGES TO CUBANS' CELL PHONE OWNERS.

INITIALLY THEY SENT MESSAGES ABOUT TOPICS LIKE THE WEATHER, SOCCER AND MUSIC - TO BUILD AN AUDIENCE AND SO AS NOT TO ALERT THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT . LATER THEY PLANNED TO PUSH MESSAGES WHICH THEY HOPED WOULD ENCOURAGE DISSENT . ONE U.S.A.I.D DOCUMENT SAID THE AIM WAS TO "RENEGOTIATE THE BALANCE OF POWER BETWEEN THE STATE AND SOCIETY."

SECRECY WAS CRITICAL

'THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT', READS ONE INTERNAL MEMO OBTAINED BY THE A-P.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Analyst:

"They didn't want anyone to know what they were up to"

FORMER CIA ANALYST FULTON ARMSTRONG WAS WORKING FOR THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE AT THE TIME. HE SAID TENSIONS BETWEEN CONGRESS AND U.S.A.I.D OVER WHAT APPEARED TO BE CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS STARTED BEFORE THE ZUN-ZUNEO PROJECT WAS LAUNCHED.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Analyst:

"We were told we couldn't even be told in broad terms what was happening, because quote, people will die"

U.S.A.I.D SAID IN A STATEMENT THAT IT IS "PROUD OF ITS WORK IN CUBA TO PROVIDE BASIC HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, AND TO HELP INFORMATION FLOW MORE FREELY TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE," WHOM IT SAID HAVE LIVED UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME" FOR FIFTY YEARS.

THE AGENCY SAID ITS WORK WAS FOUND TO BE "CONSISTENT.WITH U.S. LAW."

THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ZUN-ZUNEO TEAM TO TEST THE BLAST MESSAGES CAME IN SEPTEMBER OF 2009 - WHEN THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE GATHERED FOR A CONCERT BY LATIN STAR JUANES IN REVOLUTION PLAZA IN HAVANA.

IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE CONCERT - ZUN-ZUNEO SENT OUT HALF A MILLION MESSAGES TO SEE IF CUBAN OFFICIALS REACTED.

OVERSEAS FRONT COMPANIES, FINANCED FROM A BANK IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS, WERE SET UP TO PREVENT CUBAN AUTHORITIES FROM TRACING THE REAL SOURCE OF THE MESSAGES.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst: "it's a really sad story - when you have bureaucrats with some political intervention going around running operations for which there's no oversight, no transparency."

THE PLAN NEVER GOT TO THE POINT WHERE ANY MESSAGES WERE SENT TO SPARK dissent AGAINST THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT.

IN 2012 THE TEXTING SERVICE TOPPED ABRUPTLY WHEN USAID SAID THE FUNDING ENDED.

Ernesto Guerra, Ex-Zunzuneo User:

Damn! I was on the service for so long and never realized what it really was?"

GUERRA WASN'T THE ONLY ONE.

UNTIL NOW FEW KNEW ZUN-ZUNEO'S REAL PURPOSE. FOR YOUNG CUBANS ITS DISAPPEARANCE WAS AS MYSTERIOUS AS ITS ORIGINS.

DAVID BRUNS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 28 February 2014

1. Wide Old Capitol building and traffic

2. Traffic on Havana street with Old Capitol building in background

3. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

4. Split box showing Cubans using cell phones, ZunZuneo logo

5. Cutaway shot of Ernesto Guerra and Saimi Reyes who had used ZunZuneo

6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra: Ex-ZunZuneo User (Transcribed Below)

7. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

8. Waist shot showing Cuban woman using cell phone

9. Medium, Cubans holding cell phones

CUBAVISION

Havana, January 28, 2008

10. Raul Castro waving flag at night march

Havana, October 10, 2006

11. Fidel Castro holding phone after surgery

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 28, 2014

12. Panning shot of documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

March 21, 2014

11. Various exteriors of offices for US Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C.

12. Wide USAID flag outside of USAID offices

AP TELEVISION

++4x3 FILE Tbilisi - August 27, 2008

13. Wide of building in Tbilisi, Georgia where USAID boxes are being loaded and sorted during conflict with Russia in 2008.

Washington - 31 March 2014

14. Walking shot of Joe McSpedon, a US AID manager who headed the ZunZuneo project - UPSOUND: Reporter: Was this a covert operation?'

15. Graphic showing USAID logo with statement to AP: "Nothing about USAID's Cuba programs is classified or covert in any way. We carry out programs in a discreet manner to help ensure the safety of all those involved."

16. Medium shot of USAID flag

17. Medium shot of Cubans on cellphones

Havana - 20 March 2014

18. Exterior shot of Cubacel storefront

Washington - 21 March 2014

19. Close shot of Creative Associates offices in Washington, D.C., a subcontractor for USAID awarded 99 million in government funds last year

20. Wide shot of sign for Creative Associates offices in Washington, D.C.

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

September 9, 2008

22. Various of Hurricane Ike hitting Havana, waves breaking against road in El Malecon

Havana - Recent

23. More medium shots of Cubans using cell phones

24. Graphic reading: "renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society."

25. Graphic showing quote from Mobile Accord ZunZuneo document reading: "There will be no mention of United States government involvement"

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

26. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

27. Cutaway shot of Armstrong at his office computer - more Cubans using cell phones

28. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

Washington - March 21, 2014

29. Close shot of USAID log on building

30. Graphic from USAID statement reading: "Proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people"

Havana - Recent

31. Shot of people in Havana walking on street

Washington - March 21, 2014

32. Close shot of USAID log on building

POOL

Havana, September 20, 2009

33. Various of Colombian music star Juanes performing at a massive concert in Cuba's Revolution Plaza

AP TELEVISION

Washington, Recent

34. USAID flag waving, dissolves into map showing Cuba in relation to Cayman Islands

35. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst (Transcribed Below)

Havana - March 28, 2014

36. Shot of family on Cuba's Malecon in Havana

37. Various of Cubans using cell phones

Havana - 28 February 2014

38. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, Ex-ZunZuneo User (Transcribed Below)

39. Shot of Cuban using cell phone in car.

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 28, 2014

40. Shot of documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

41. Closing shot of Cuban sitting on Malecon in Havana.

HEADLINE: Death threats for latin singing star

CAPTION: The business manager of Latin pop singer Juanes said the "Peace Without Borders" concert will go on as planned in Havana despite threatening messages the singer received recently on his Twitter account. (Aug. 21)

[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]

Latin singing star Juanes (Wahn-Ess) says he fears for his safety as well as his family. [Notes:broll og jauness]

That's according to a police report he filed in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lives. [Notes:video of police report from winton]

And it's all over a concert he has planned for next month.

It's in Cuba -- and that has led to threatening messages on Juanes' Twitter account.

He says one message read "I hate what you are saying but you will die for defending your right to say it."

Some Cuban-Americans in Miami have criticized the event, saying that it endorses the Communist-led government of Fidel and Raul Castro.

[Notes:SOT Manny Diaz - in spanish - nat pop up in spanish]

This record shop manager says he's opposed to the Havana concert but thinks some Cuban extremists are overreacting.

Police in Key Biscayne, Florida are providing the pop-star with extra security here at the singer's home....

[Notes:Charles Press, chief, Key Biscayne Police Dept]

[Notes:"I reached out to Juanes' manager. Spoke with him briefly about the situation, and from that moment on realized we had something going on here.]

Juanes -- a 17-time Latin Grammy winner, who is from Colombia, is known for his social activism.

Event promoters insist the Havana concert will have no ideological overtones.

Juanes admits he considered canceling the show -- but his spokesman says the show will go on.

The U.S. government masterminded the creation of a "Cuban Twitter" - 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 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 USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it. The Cuban government declined a request for comment.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to muddy the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable - an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

On the bustling streets of Havana people still talk about ZunZuneo, a social media network that exploded in popularity.

Cuban slang for hummingbird, it evoked the image of Twitter and had tens of thousands of cell phone users.

Ernesto Guerra, a former ZunZuneo was one.

"It was a very noble service," Guerra said.

"You would log on and you could write 140 characters and hit send. It was free of charge."

His friend, Saimi Reyes, another user, said, "sometimes I would wonder where this is from, where does the money come from because all this for nothing wasn't possible."

But what they didn't know was that ZunZuneo was part of a US plan designed to undermine the regime of President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel.

The AP obtained more than 1,000 pages of documents from contractors about the development of ZunZuneo.

It independently verified the project's scope and details in the documents through publicly available databases, government sources and interviews with those involved in ZunZuneo.

AP's investigation showed the organisation behind this was the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal agency best known for overseeing billions of dollars in US humanitarian aid, which also has a mandate to spread democracy.

The project was led by USAID manager Joe McSpedon.

He refused to talk to AP when asked about the secret plan.

A USAID spokesman told AP "nothing about USAID's Cuba programmes is classified or covert in any way. We carry out programmes in a discreet manner to help ensure the safety of all those involved."

The programme came to life after a USAID contractor obtained half-a-million cell phone numbers on the state-owned mobile network - Cubacel.

The contractor, Creative Associates International, based in Washington DC, was paid by USAID to hatch a plan to send text messages to Cuban cell phone owners.

Initially they sent messages about topics like the weather, soccer and music, to build an audience and so as not to alert the Cuban government.

Later they planned to push messages which they hoped would encourage dissent.

One USAID document said the aim was to "renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society."

Secrecy was critical.

'There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement' reads one, according to a 2010 memo from Mobile Accord Incorporated, one of the project's creators.

"They were protecting not just the legitimate things, the identities of people and all that, they didn't want anyone to know what they were up to," said former CIA analyst Fulton Armstrong, who was working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.

He said tensions between Congress and USAID over what appeared to be clandestine operations began after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross.

Gross was convicted for his activities of travelling repeatedly to the country on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand internet access using sensitive technology only governments use.

Armstrong said "it's true that every agency of the US government, including unclassified programmes, want to protect certain details of who they're working with and all of that.

But this was far beyond.

We were told we couldn't even be told in broad terms what was going on because, quote, "people will die.''

USAID said in a statement that it is "proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people" whom it said have lived under an authoritarian regime for fifty years.

The agency said its work was found to be "consistent with US law."

The first opportunity for the ZunZuneo team to test what they called "blast messages" came in September of 2009 when thousands of young people gathered in central Havana for a concert by the Latin singing star Juanes.

In the weeks leading up to the show, ZunZuneo sent out half a million messages to see how Cuban officials reacted.

Overseas front companies, financed from a bank in the Cayman Islands, were set up to prevent Cuban authorities from tracing the real source of the messages.

The plan never got to the point where any messages were sent to spark dissent.

In 2012 the texting service stopped abruptly.

USAID said the funding ended.

Ernesto Guerra said: "If tomorrow we discover that ZunZuneo was part of USAID or some other similar project, my first reaction would be, damn! I was on the service for so long and never realised what it really was"

Guerra wasn't the only one.

Until now few knew ZunZuneo's real purpose.

For young Cubans its disappearance was as mysterious as its origins.

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 28 February 2014

++16:9++

1. Old Capitol building and traffic in Havana

2. Traffic on Havana street with Old Capitol building in background

3. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

4. Cutaway shot of Enresto Guerra and Saimi Reyes who had used ZunZuneo

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, ex-ZunZuneo user:

"It was a very noble service. You would log on and you could write 140 characters and hit send. It was free of charge."

6. Cutaway shot of Enresto Guerra and Saimi Reyes who had used ZunZuneo

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Saimi Reyes, ex-Zunzuneo user:

"Sometimes I would wonder where this is from, where does the money come from? Because all this for nothing wasn't possible."

8. Various shots of Cubans using cell phones

CUBAVISION

Havana - January 28 2008

++4:3++

9. Raul Castro waving flag at night march

CUBAVISION

Havana - October 10 2006

++4:3++

10. Fidel Castro walks out of lift toward camera after surgery

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 28 March 2014

++16:9++

11. Documents obtained by Associated Press showing outline of ZunZuneo program

AP TELEVISION

Washington DC - 21 March 2014

++16:9++

12. Various exteriors of offices for US Agency for International Development in Washington DC (USAID)

13. USAID flag outside USAID offices

AP TELEVISION

Washington DC - 31 March 2014

++16:9++

14. Joe McSpedon, a USAID manager who headed the ZunZuneo project

UPSOUND Reporter: "Was this a covert operation?"

FILE Tbilisi - August 27 2008

++4:3++

15. Building in Tbilisi, Georgia where USAID boxes are being loaded and sorted during conflict with Russia in 2008

16. Men loading USAID boxes

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 20 March 2014

++16:9++

17. Various shots of Cubacel storefront and customers

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 21 March 2014

++16:9++

18. Creative Associates offices in Washington DC, a subcontractor for USAID awarded 99 million US dollars in government funds last year

19. Close shot of sign for Creative Associates offices in Washington DC

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 9 September 2008

++4:3++

20. Various of Hurricane Ike hitting Havana, waves breaking against road in El Malecon

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 28 March 2014

++16:9++

21. Various Cubans using cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 21 March 2014

++16:9++

22. Various of Mobile Accord offices in Washington DC

AP TELEVISION

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

++16:9++

23. Fulton Armstrong, ex-CIA analyst who worked on Senate Foreign Relations committee

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst:

"They were protecting not just the legitimate things, identity of people involved and all of that. They didn't want anybody to know what they were up to."

AP PHOTOS - NO ACCESS CANADA/ FOR BROADCAST USE ONLY - STRICTLY NO ACCESS ONLINE OR MOBILE

25. STILL provided by the Gross family shows Alan and Judy Gross.

26. November 27 2012 STILL provided by US lawyer James L. Berenthal showing jailed American Alan Gross poses for a photo during a visit by Rabbi Elie Abadie and Berenthal at Finlay military hospital in Havana, Cuba.

AP TELEVISION

San Jose, Costa Rica - Recent

++16:9++

27. Cutaway shot of Armstrong talking to reporter

28. SOUNDBITE (English) Fulton Armstrong, Former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Analyst:

"It's true that every agency of the US government, including unclassified programs want to protect certain details on who they're working with and all of that. But this was far beyond. We were told we couldn't even be told in broad terms what was happening because, quote, 'people will die.''

POOL

Havana - September 20 2009

++4:3++

29. Various of Colombian music star Juanes performing at a massive concert in Cuba's Revolution Plaza

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 28 March 2014

++16:9++

30. Various Cubans using cell phones

31. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ernesto Guerra, ex-Zunzuneo user:

"If tomorrow we discover that ZunZuneo was part of USAID or some other similar project, my first reaction would be, damn! I was on the service for so long and never realised what it really was?"

32. Cuban man walking with cell phone

33. Family with bike on the Malecon ++MUTE++

34. Man sitting with cell phone on Malecon

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

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"

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

Despite the arrival of a fibre optic cable to boost internet connectivity in Cuba, going online is still proving to be problematic on the island.

Logging onto a website can sometimes take up to 15 minutes.

Government officials have said that hospitals, universities and other organisations would be prioritised for faster internet connectivity.

But a dozen public employees interviewed by The Associated Press said they had seen no noticeable improvement in internet speeds.

If anything, they say, downloading material is taking even longer.

"We need it in order to be integrated with the world. We need to be in communication. We have a small bandwidth here. I have access at the office, but we need it more and more for work each day and for life in general, too," said Monica Rojas, a 23-year-old office worker.

Strung from Venezuela with the help of key ally, President Hugo Chavez, the fibre optic cable was supposed to come online last July.

It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials launched the undersea wire they promised would finally end Cuba's internet isolation and boost connectivity 3,000-fold.

More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, the government doesn't talk about the cable anymore.

The Venezuelan arm of Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, which was contracted to lay the cable, referred questions to the Caracas-based Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe, where officials did not follow through on repeated promises to respond.

People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.

Nobody has explained exactly what happened to the 70 (m) million US dollar project.

Many state office workers, such as doctors, only have access to email and a domestic intranet.

Moreover, institutions recently began cracking down on the few who do have full internet access, ordering them not to use sites like Facebook.

"There are all these social pages, Facebook, Twitter, that are part of life for the world's youth. We Cubans are also part of that humanity. We young people are in tune with all that and why not; we should have more contact with others and enter the world of today and not fall behind," said Oleynis Rueda, a former computer teacher.

The lack of transparency is not unusual for Cuba, where all media is state-run and tightly controlled, but it flies in the face of Fidel Castro's own enthusiastic words about the cable and the transformational power of the internet.

"The internet is a revolutionary instrument because it allows us to receive and transmit in both directions," said Castro in a rare television appearance last February.

"Therefore, it is something we should know how to use," he added.

While some hold out hope that faster internet has merely been delayed, others interpret the government's long silence as a sign Cuba's broadband dreams will be the latest grand pronouncement to end in disappointment.

According to government statistics, 16 per cent of islanders were online in some capacity in 2011, mostly through work or school, and often just to the internet.

The National Statistics Office said last year that just 2.9 per cent reported having direct internet access, though outside experts estimate the real figure is likely 5 to 10 per cent accounting for black market sales of dial-up minutes.

Some speculate that the internet-fuelled Arab Spring revolts, which began months before the cable's arrival in Cuba, could have altered the government's plan or at least made officials rethink the wisdom of making it widely available.

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - 10 May 2012

++16:9++

1. Various of people using computers

2. Tilt down of ETECSA building (phone company)

3. Mid of people waiting in line outside building to use internet services

4. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Monica Rojas, office worker, Vox pop:

"We need it in order to be integrated with the world. We need to be in communication. We have a small bandwidth here. I have access at the office, but we need it more and more for work each day and for life in general, too."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Vargas State, Venezuela - 22 January 2011

++16:9++

5. Low shot of line of buoys running from beach into sea

6. Mid of representatives from Cuba, Jamaica, France and Venezuela speaking on beach during official laying of fibre optic cable between Venezuela and Cuba

7. Zoom out of fibre optic cable

8. Wide of Ricardo Menendez, Venezuelan Technology Minister, speaking on beach

9. Wide of Venezuelan and Cuban flags, buoys and ship

10. Pull focus from palm tree to Venezuelan and Cuban flags

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - 10 May 2012

++16:9++

11. Mid of people queuing in street to use internet facilities

12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Oleynis Rueda, former computer teacher, Vox pop:

"There are all these social websites, Facebook, Twitter, that are part of life for the world's youth. We Cubans are also part of that humanity. We young people are in tune with all that and why not; we should have more contact with others and enter the world of today and not fall behind."

CUBAVISION - NO ACCESS CUBA

Havana, Cuba - 3 February 2012

++4:3++

13. Mid of Fidel Castro, Cuban leader, at conference

14. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Fidel Castro, Former Cuban leader:

++VARIOUS SHOT CHANGES DURING SOUNDBITE++

"The internet is a revolutionary instrument because it allows us to receive and transmit in both directions. Therefore, it is something we should know how to use."

CUBAVISION - NO ACCESS CUBA

FILE: Siboney Beach, Cuba - 9 February 2011

++4:3++

15. STILL map, showing internet cable path between Cuba and Venezuela

16. Various of ceremony marking arrival of cable on Cuban coast

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

ACTRESS ASKS IF OTHERS HAVE BEEN HARASSED

Actress Alyssa Milano is getting thousands of responses on Twitter to her request that people reply to her on the social network with "me too" if they have been sexually harassed or assaulted.

Milano, 44, received "me, too" responses from "Will and Grace" star Debra Messing and Anna Paquin, the Oscar-winning actress from New Zealand.

Milano says on her Twitter account that she got the idea from a friend. Milano says her friend told her such a tweet "might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem."

In another tweet that links to a blog post, Milano, who was one of the stars of the long-running sitcom "Who's the Boss," writes the following about film producer Harvey Weinstein: "While I am sickened and angered over the disturbing accusations of Weinstein's sexual predation and abuse of power, I'm happy - ecstatic even - that it has opened up a dialogue around the continued sexual harassment, objectification and degradation of women. "

FILE - New York, 16 September 2017

1. Tilt up Alyssa Milano

FILE - New York, 11 September 2015

2. Tilt up Alyssa Milano

FILE - Los Angeles, 1 August 2013

3. Tilt up Alyssa Milano

FILE - Cannes, France, 17 May 2015

4. Close-up of Harvey Weinstein posing for photographers at Cannes premiere of "Carol," pull to wide shot

FILE - Cannes, France, 24 May 2015

5. Wide shot Harvey Weinstein and wife Georgina Chapman at closing night of Cannes Film Festival

FILE - Cannes, France, 24 May 2013

6. Wide shot Harvey Weinstein climbs steps at Cannes premiere of "The Immigrant"

FILE - Cannes, France, 18 May 2011

7. Medium shot with zoom in, Harvey Weinstein posing for photographers at Cinema for Peace auction