A memo revealed that a U.S. government program dispatched Latin American youth in secret and disguised them as health and civic workers to stir revolution and political change in Cuba.

In October 2009, the U.S. Agency for International Development began a project that sent Latin American youth from Peru, Venezuela and Costa Rica to work clandestinely in hopes to stir rebellion against the Castro-led communist regime in Cuba.

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The youth either posed as traveling tourists or as HIV-health workers. They traveled around the country to look for recruits and turn them into political activists.

The Associated Press acquired memos on the clandestine project. In one memo, an HIV-prevention workshop was formed to serve as front for the youth’s operation. The memo called the workshop “the perfect excuse” for the program’s political goals.

AP’s further investigation showed how the operatives work. For instance, they used encrypted thumb drives to hide files and sent secure messages.

They also used codes to communicate about their safety. If the operative sent an “I have a headache” message, it meant they activities were being monitored by Cuban authorities. If they wrote “Your sister is ill” it meant they wanted out of the operation and wanted to cut their trip short.

Yajaira Andrade, a former administrator with a Venezuelan organization, told the AP the danger they were involved in at the time.

“We worked is so that the government here didn’t know we were traveling to Cuba and helping these groups,” Andrade said.

She said they had to work carefully and discretely because at that time, Hugo Chavez was still in power. They did not want anyone to know they were working in Cuba to stir a rebellion or else they end up in jail.

In another AP finding, the operatives’ activities were almost foiled. The report showed that at one time, they failed to identify potential recruits who could spark the revolution.

One of the Latin American operatives said they were only given a 30-minute seminar how they can evade Cuba’s counter-intelligence. The operative said he and his fellow agents do not have any safety measures in case they get apprehended by Cuban authorities. He said that most of them do not have experience.

The U.S. clandestine program in Cuba continued even after the arrest of Alan Gross. Gross, and international development worker, was arrested in Cuba while working as a subcontractor for a USAID project in December 2009. He is now serving a 15-year term in one of Cuba’s prisons.

Tagsespionage, Latin American Youth, USAID, Cuba, Memo