What will bring down communist Cuba once and for all? Will it be the post-Castro power vaccum, the trade embargo, or the Cuban people’s insatiable yearning for a good box of chocolate? The Miami Herald reports today that a new report from the Government Accountability Office has found some questionable spending by anti-Castro groups getting money from the U.S. government:
One recipient, the GAO says, used USAID funds to purchase a chain saw, Nintendo Game Boys and Sony PlayStations, a mountain bike, leather coats, cashmere sweaters, crabmeat and Godiva chocolates.
Juan Carlos Acosta, executive director of Miami-based Acción Democrática Cubana, told The Miami Herald in an interview Tuesday that except for the chain saw, he bought the items and sent them to people in Cuba.
He said he bought the chain saw to cut a branch that had fallen near the door of his office after a hurricane. He bought ”five or six” cans of crabmeat and some boxes of chocolate to send to Cuba.
”These people are going hungry,” he said. “They never get any chocolate there.”
Asked why he’d sent cashmere sweaters to Cuba, Acosta replied, “They [auditors] think it’s not cold there.” Plus, “At $30, it’s a bargain because cashmere is expensive.”
