The Biden Administration in July announced a call for applications to award up to $6.25 million to nongovernmental organizations and individuals as part of a decades-long program authorized by US law to "promote peaceful, nonviolent democratic change in Cuba."
Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said in an interview with Reuters in Havana that the programs - which over several decades have spent upwards of $200 million on Cuba-related projects - in fact, leverage foreign funding to foment unrest on the island.
"In any nation, this is illegal," he said, noting the United States has legislation against people who act as foreign government agents.
"That is precisely what the United States is trying to promote in Cuba today," he said.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) call for applications warned of the challenges and risks of working in Cuba, and said recipients "will not serve as an agent or act under the direction of USAID."
"They (the US) are depressing the standard of living of the population and at the same time pouring millions of US taxpayer dollars into urging people to act against the [Cuban] government," De Cossio told Reuters.
The United States called for applications from groups that would provide humanitarian assistance for persecuted individuals and for those "empowering Cubans through access to information."
The deputy foreign minister's statements on Friday follow the first high-level talks between the two countries in four years, at the time characterized as constructive by the long-time foes.
MNA/PR