Over the years, the United States has infamously plotted to shower Cuba with gifts ranging from exploding cigars to conch shells, poisoned wetsuits to milkshakes, in an effort to undermine and end the regimes of Fidel and Raul Castro.
Even as Fidel Castro has invited Atlantic journalists to dolphin shows in Havana and admitted that the communist model isn't working all that well, U.S. efforts to thwart the Cuban government have continued apace. Among the recent hits are Cuban Twitter and, as the Associated Press reported on Thursday, an initiative to infiltrate the hip-hop scene in Cuba and inspire an uprising.
Like previous campaigns, this latest one also failed spectacularly. "The idea was to use Cuban musicians 'to break the information blockade' and build a network of young people seeking 'social change,' documents show," according to the AP. "But the operation was amateurish and profoundly unsuccessful."
The two-year operation reportedly involved the recruitment and promotion of Cuban hip-hop artists who were critical of the government, by way of a Serbian contractor and a Panamanian front company. One of the groups that the operation focused on was Los Aldeanos (The Villagers), who were believed to enjoy credibility both as artists and critics of the government.