The Obama administration secretly financed a social network in Cuba to stir political unrest and undermine the country's communist government.
An Associated Press investigation found the program evaded Cuba's internet restrictions by creating a text-messaging service that could be used to organise political demonstrations. It drew in tens of thousands of subscribers who were unaware it was backed by the US government.
Documents and interviews show the US Agency for International Development went to extensive lengths to conceal its involvement in a so-called Cuban Twitter. They set up front companies overseas and routed money through a Cayman Islands bank to hide the money trail.
The project was launched shortly after American contractor Alan Gross was arrested in Cuba for undertaking covert work to expand internet access.
US denies inciting Cuban unrest
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
The United States has denied it used its overseas aid agency to mount a covert operation on social media to incite political unrest against Cuba's communist leaders.
But the US Agency for International Development (USAID) did admit on Thursday to building a Twitter-style application on which Cubans, who face strict curbs on expression, were able to "talk freely among themselves" consistent with universal rights and freedoms.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the program was a "development assistance" scheme targeted at Cubans facing government restrictions on information and had never been a secret.
He said the program, first reported after an investigation by the Associated Press, was debated in Congress and conducted within US law. It was not advertised to protect those who took part.
"When you have a program like that in a non permissive environment, i.e. a place like Cuba, you are discreet (in) how you implement it so you protect the practitioners," he said.
"But that does not make it covert. USAID is a development agency, not an intelligence agency. Suggestions that this was a covert program are wrong."
USAID spokesman Matt Herrick said USAID was proud to work in Cuba to "promote human rights and universal freedoms" and to help information flow to its people, alongside its humanitarian operations.
The project was known as "Zunzuneo" after the term for a Cuban hummingbird and was a platform for Cubans to "speak freely among themselves," said Herrick.
He said the application was built to build interest among Cubans using topics like sports scores, weather, and trivia.
But questions were raised after the AP report suggested that political content was to be introduced at a later stage to encourage Cubans to mount "flash mobs" and demonstrate against the communist government.
Despite the denials, the use of USAID in the program could politicise an agency which often relies on the goodwill of foreign governments to carry out humanitarian work.
The agency says openly on its website that its core mission in Cuba includes promoting the freedom of expression.
