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Directing Federal Funds for Domestic Propaganda? More observations on White House aide Felipe Sixto's resignation, from an attorney reader:
Apparently, Mr. Sixto's strange and sudden resignation came about because the Center for a Free Cuba found out he was using federal funds to pay for a domestic propaganda campaign to support President Bush's Cuba policy.
In the original stories about Felipe Sixto's resignation, Frank Calzon said that the Center for a Free Cuba began an internal investigation in January when it first heard allegations that Sixto had misused federal funds:
The Center for a Free Cuba learned of the allegations in January, said Frank Calzon, the group's executive director. It alerted the development agency and began an internal investigation, Calzon said.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/03/29/0329aide.html
This report from January indicates that Reporters Without Borders was funded by the Center for a Free Cuba to promote President Bush's Cuba policy:
La respuesta es la financiación de RSF. En efecto, la organización está subvencionada por la organización de extrema derecha Center for a Free Cuba (17), cuyo director Frank Calzón es el antiguo dirigente de la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA), una organización terrorista responsable de numerosos atentados contra Cuba (18). RSF también está financiada por la oficina pantalla de la CIA que es la National Endowment for Democracy, cuyo objetivo es promover la agenda política de la Casa Blanca (19).
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=62460
It's illegal to use federal funds to pay for domestic propaganda to support the Bush administration's Cuba policy:
The publicity or propaganda prohibition appears in the annual appropriation act. Specifically, this prohibition states: “No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress.” Pub. L. No. 108-7, Div. J, Tit. VI, § 626, 117 Stat. 11, 470 (2003).
Yesterday, in an op-ed in Diario Las Americas, Frank Calzon said that Felipe Sixto misused federal funds by giving grants to organizations operating in the United States ... If Sixto directed funds to Reporters Without Borders for them to use to bolster support for the Bush Administration's Cuba policy in the U.S. it would be illegal.