New York, November 10 (PL-RHC)-- For the fifth time in less than one month, The New York Times has published a lengthy editorial on Cuba, this time recognizing the countless destabilizing efforts by the United States, designed to lead to the collapse of the government in Havana.

Entitled “In Cuba, Misadventures in Regime Change,” the editorial reviewed the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which gave rise to numerous plans to destabilize Cuba.

The Times noted that these subversive projects only served as a basis for the U.S. government to spend $264 million over the past 18 years, in an attempt to instigate alleged democratic reforms in Cuba. It recognized the fact that, far from having achieved its goal, efforts backfired because these funds "became a magnet for charlatans and thieves."

The editorial detailed how investment in efforts to overthrow the Cuban government increased from a few million annually to more than $20 million in 2004, during the early years of the George W. Bush administration, when most of the contracts were awarded.

Funds were used for an international lobbying strategy of questionable legality, to persuade foreign governments to support the unpopular embargo (blockade ) that the United States placed on the island in 1962.

The money from federal funds was also used by Cuban groups in Miami to buy clothes and food, but it was never possible to verify how much was leaked to the internal counterrevolution, as planned.
According to a report published in November 2006 by the Office of Accountability (GAO), a contractor used program funds to buy a chainsaw, gas, electronic equipment, including Nintendo and Play Stations, a mountain bike, leather coats, canned crab meat, and Godiva chocolates. At the time of audit, the costs were not justified.