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BBC News - US created 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest
ZunZuneo was reportedly introduced with information about everyday topics such as sport and weather
The US created a text-message social network designed to foment unrest in Cuba, according to an investigation by the Associated Press news agency.
ZunZuneo, dubbed a "Cuban Twitter", had 40,000 subscribers at its height in a country with limited web access.
The project reportedly lasted from 2009-12 when the grant money ran out.
The US is said to have concealed its links to the network through a series of shell companies and by funnelling messages through other countries.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in the Cuban capital of Havana says the project appears to have taken advantage of the thirst for information on the island, where there is no independent media.
'Bogus advertisements '
There has been no official Cuban government reaction to the story.
The scheme was reportedly operated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal international development organisation run under the aegis of the Department of State.
The ZunZuneo project seems to have focused on phone messages because internet activity is so limited in Cuba. Cubans were only permitted to own mobile phones in 2008, but now they are very common.
Since last year, 137 public internet access points have been opened - for the whole island. But one hour online costs $4.50 (£2.70) - or almost a quarter of an average monthly state salary. Getting online in a hotel is now possible for Cubans, but prices there are even higher. Last month, the government began allowing email via telephone.
In this void - telephone messaging has emerged as a common form of organisation for Cuba's small dissident community - who send photos and post to Twitter via their mobile phones. But most Cubans who do go online are generally more interested in using sites such as Facebook or email to contact family and friends now living abroad.
USAID spokesman Matt Herrick told the BBC the agency was proud of its work in Cuba and that it worked to help people everywhere to exercise their rights and connect them with the outside world.
"In the implementation has the government taken steps to be discreet in non-permissive environments? Of course," Mr Herrick said.
"That's how you protect the practitioners and the public. In hostile environments, we often take steps to protect the partners we're working with on the ground. This is not unique to Cuba."
But the report could undermine USAID's longstanding claim that it does not take covert action in the countries where it operates aid programmes.
ZunZuneo, slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet, was reportedly designed to attract a subscriber base with discussion initially about everyday topics such as sport and weather.
US officials then planned to introduce political messages in the hope of spurring the network's users, especially younger Cubans, into dissent from their communist-run government, the Associated Press reports.
Executives set up firms in Spain and the Cayman Islands to pay the company's bills and routed the text messages away from US servers.
A website and bogus web advertisements were created to give the impression of a real firm, the Associated Press reports.
Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the foreign operations appropriation subcommittee, said the ZunZuneo revelations were troubling.
One former subscriber, Javiel, told the BBC in Havana that he had registered with ZunZuneo after a friend gave him a phone number to call. He said he then began receiving sports news for free by text message.
Javiel remembered that ZunZuneo was particularly useful during the last World Cup.
He said he had no idea the service was funded by the US government and never received anything remotely political.
He said that at some point over a year ago the messages stopped.
ZunZuneo was reportedly introduced with information about everyday topics such as sport and weather
The US created a text-message social network designed to foment unrest in Cuba, according to an investigation by the Associated Press news agency.
ZunZuneo, dubbed a "Cuban Twitter", had 40,000 subscribers at its height in a country with limited web access.
The project reportedly lasted from 2009-12 when the grant money ran out.
The US is said to have concealed its links to the network through a series of shell companies and by funnelling messages through other countries.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in the Cuban capital of Havana says the project appears to have taken advantage of the thirst for information on the island, where there is no independent media.
'Bogus advertisements '
There has been no official Cuban government reaction to the story.
The scheme was reportedly operated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal international development organisation run under the aegis of the Department of State.
The ZunZuneo project seems to have focused on phone messages because internet activity is so limited in Cuba. Cubans were only permitted to own mobile phones in 2008, but now they are very common.
Since last year, 137 public internet access points have been opened - for the whole island. But one hour online costs $4.50 (£2.70) - or almost a quarter of an average monthly state salary. Getting online in a hotel is now possible for Cubans, but prices there are even higher. Last month, the government began allowing email via telephone.
In this void - telephone messaging has emerged as a common form of organisation for Cuba's small dissident community - who send photos and post to Twitter via their mobile phones. But most Cubans who do go online are generally more interested in using sites such as Facebook or email to contact family and friends now living abroad.
USAID spokesman Matt Herrick told the BBC the agency was proud of its work in Cuba and that it worked to help people everywhere to exercise their rights and connect them with the outside world.
"In the implementation has the government taken steps to be discreet in non-permissive environments? Of course," Mr Herrick said.
"That's how you protect the practitioners and the public. In hostile environments, we often take steps to protect the partners we're working with on the ground. This is not unique to Cuba."
But the report could undermine USAID's longstanding claim that it does not take covert action in the countries where it operates aid programmes.
ZunZuneo, slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet, was reportedly designed to attract a subscriber base with discussion initially about everyday topics such as sport and weather.
US officials then planned to introduce political messages in the hope of spurring the network's users, especially younger Cubans, into dissent from their communist-run government, the Associated Press reports.
Executives set up firms in Spain and the Cayman Islands to pay the company's bills and routed the text messages away from US servers.
A website and bogus web advertisements were created to give the impression of a real firm, the Associated Press reports.
Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the foreign operations appropriation subcommittee, said the ZunZuneo revelations were troubling.
One former subscriber, Javiel, told the BBC in Havana that he had registered with ZunZuneo after a friend gave him a phone number to call. He said he then began receiving sports news for free by text message.
Javiel remembered that ZunZuneo was particularly useful during the last World Cup.
He said he had no idea the service was funded by the US government and never received anything remotely political.
He said that at some point over a year ago the messages stopped.
