Washington, Dec 11 The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) tried to infiltrate the Cuban hip-hop movement, as part of an undercover project to destabilize the country, according to an investigation by the US news agency The Associated Press (AP).

The revelations, which were published on US and European media on Thursday, show that USAID hired a group of rap singers to create a movement of youths against the Cuban government, according to documents obtained by AP.

The subversive plan, which was implemented for over two years, was aimed at using Cuban musicians to build a network of youths to seek “social change” in the country.

Among the undercover plans ordered to USAID contractors was the recruitment of dozens of Cuban musicians to carry out projects disguised as cultural initiatives and youth festivals, but the real objective was to enhance their visibility and foster a false “artistic” movement that would challenge the Cuban government.

The Huffington Post on Thursday published a chronology of USAID’s undercover actions in Cuba, including the activities carried out by Serbian “musical promoter” Rajko Bozic, who visited Cuba with the mission of incorporating Cuban rappers to his its plan, including the duet Los Aldeanos, and creating an opposition youth movement.

It also describes how the company Salida was founded in Panama on March 23, 2009, as a front firm attached to the Washington-based Creative Associates International. The AP investigation refers to a meeting held in August 2009 in the offices of Creative Associates International in San Jose, Costa Rica, to plan how to use the Concert for Peace, organized by Colombian singer songwriter Juanes in Havana, to promote Los Aldeanos and their opposition discourse.

On December 3, 2009, the USAID subcontractor and US citizen Alan Gross was arrested at Havana’s airport for smuggling satellite telephones and computers without the necessary permits.

The secret operation to infiltrate the hip-hop movement was carried out at the same time as two other USAID-sponsored programs, which were revealed by an AP investigation early this year: the launch of a secret “Cuban Twitter” system, known as Zunzuneo, and a program that brought Latin American youths to Cuba to create destabilization among Cuban young people through discontent and criticisms of the government’s performance.

The AP investigation includes documents linked to Creative Associates International and USAID, which paid millions of dollars to undermine the Cuban government, as well as thousands of pages of contracts, electronic mails, chat conversations, budgets, reports, photos and passports.