Since 1983 the National Endowment for Democracy has been at the center of efforts by the U.S. government to promote democracy abroad.
The private nonprofit is almost entirely funded by the federal government, and its funding was first signed into law by President Ronald Reagan at the height of the Cold War. President Reagan hailed it as a cornerstone of the U.S.’s role as a leader of the democratic world.
“The establishment of the National Endowment goes right to the heart of America’s faith in democratic ideals and institutions,” declared Reagan the day the nonprofit was launched. “All Americans can be proud of this initiative and the congressional action which made it possible.”
Shortly after the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was founded, it played a major role in funding the creation of civil society groups, which contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
For over four decades, the work has continued, touching an estimated 100 countries around the world.
Until now.
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On Jan. 22, two days after the Inauguration of President Donald Trump, the National Endowment for Democracy was able to access congressionally approved funds for the last time. As the Trump Administration has quickly targeted foreign aid and other government funding for the chopping block, the nonprofit has been unable to get any of its budgeted money from the federal government.
The outright freeze has left at least $97 million in congressionally obligated funds inaccessible to the nonprofit, leading to mass layoffs within the nonprofit and grant recipients across the world. The freeze threatens the viability of the programs, and the longer it goes on, it shakes the trust of communities that depend on those dollars for their work, employees have told WLRN.
"The Cuban government — the foreign minister made some wonderful comments that I think we should wear as a badge of courage. They were delighted that our funding had been cut," Republican former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, who is on the board of the NED, told WLRN. In recent years the work has included supporting political prisoners and journalists in Cuba and pushing for free elections in Venezuela.
Last week, the nonprofit sued the federal government, arguing that the Trump administration has no constitutional right to deny funds to it that have been appropriated by Congress. Specifically named in the lawsuit is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban American and Republican former U.S. senator who has previously praised the work of the NED.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought are also named in the suit. "Defendants’ withholding of the Endowment’s congressionally appropriated, obligated funds is unprecedented," reads the lawsuit.
In an interview with WLRN, Martinez, a Cuban American who represented Florida in the US Senate from 2005 to 2009, spoke about the work that NED does. He said it was "unfortunate" to name Rubio in the lawsuit, and that he hoped Elon Musk — who called the nonprofit an "evil organization" — would come around to appreciating their work.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Listen to the audio above.
WLRN: What kinds of programs and organizations does the Endowment fund in places like Cuba and Venezuela and other places as well?
MARTINEZ: The National Endowment for Democracy has had a very robust presence in Cuba and Venezuela specifically, also in Nicaragua. We have had a tremendous presence in Venezuela in the fight for a free and fair election supporting the anti-Maduro movement that manifested itself in the past election where we actually were able to quantify the cheating that took place and in fact that the opposition to Maduro was actually the truly elected leaders. What we do in Cuba and in Venezuela is also fostering a free press, allowing there to be a media space where none exist.
These people are Cubans working within Cuba and determining for their own right that they want to provide information about activities that take place in the island that are acts of opposition to the regime and so forth, and these folks need resources to be able to do that.
In Cuba there is some amount of assistance that goes to helping political prisoners get legal representation, and to the families of political prisoners. Can you talk a little bit about that?
The families of political prisoners in Cuba, and I think many of your listeners would know this, are like non-citizens. So they don't get the ration card, depending on the level of opposition that has been expressed.
They don't get jobs so they're essentially at the mercy of the Cuban regime unless there was a way for us to provide assistance for them to be able to feed their families, not only that, but also to continue the movement to get these political prisoners liberated. So [we provide] assistance to political prisoners, helping them when and if they get out to be able to provide for themselves and their families and continuing to help them.
As the endowment lays out in a new federal lawsuit against the US federal government, the funding for the National Endowment for Democracy – specifically approved by Congress – was frozen shortly after President Trump assumed office in January. What does the freezing of that money mean for these programs and the organizations that are funded through this?
It has caused the layoff or furlough of about 65% to 70% of our employees. It has caused us to completely eliminate or stop all of the grants to all of our grantees around the world.
So if you were a dissident movement in Cuba and you were counting on the grant in order to continue to do your thing on the internet or whatever you're doing, that's been cut off and unfortunately, if that is to persist, we would just simply be out of business.
So the board of directors was confronted with the decision. We were at a crossroads: What do we do? And for my part, there was tremendous reluctance to be filing a suit against the government.
"We have had a tremendous presence in Venezuela in the fight for a free and fair election supporting the anti-Maduro movement where we actually were able to quantify the cheating that took place."Mel Martinez
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been a longtime vocal supporter of the NED. He made a video congratulating the grant recipients in 2017 during the first Trump administration. But now, the Endowment is suing him as the Secretary of State for withholding the required money. What do you make of that trajectory?
I think for me as a Cuban American, particularly – an immigrant Cuban American – it's just incredible to see that one of us has become not only a US senator, as I was proud to do and as he did, but also the Secretary of State of the United States. I mean this is heady stuff, it's wonderful.
But I've always felt like in him I had a kindred spirit, that we have someone there who thought like I did who understood our plight and who would be a great advocate for us. I still believe that will happen.
It is unfortunate that because of the legal framing of things and our funds coming through the Department of State, that it was a legal necessity to name him in the lawsuit. Trust me, I asked about that. I said, 'Is there not another way?' And I was told by our legal counsel that no, unfortunately. And I'm a lawyer, I understand. Sometimes you have to name someone that you really don't want to be in a lawsuit with.
And so I think it's just uncomfortable for me. It must be uncomfortable for him. He has been one of us, a great advocate for our cause, and I understand: I mean, I've been in the cabinet of a president, everything doesn't always go your way. And the administration is new and they're trying to do an awful lot and a lot of that is terrific stuff.
I was at HUD, to cut a ton of people from HUD's payroll – I think it's a good thing reducing the cost and size of government. I am a conservative Republican and a fiscal conservative when it comes to government.
There are certain things that are emblematic of who we are as a people, and I think Senator – Secretary Rubio now – is an exemplar in the way he has always stood for human rights and for the rights of the downtrodden.
The NED has been criticized for a long time, especially from the political left and repressive governments themselves, that it’s essentially doing a lot of the work of the CIA of pushing for regime change, of funding mercenaries, as they put it. And some of those governments are very happy with this funding freeze. The Cuban government says they're very happy. China is very happy with it.
Right.
But you also have significant parts of the Trump administration that seem on paper to be agreeing with that analysis. You have Elon Musk, for example, saying that NED is “an evil organization that needs to be dissolved.” What do you say to that kind of criticism and that uncomfortable overlap here?
Yeah, first of all, let me debunk any of that. We're not involved in any way, shape, or form with the CIA at any time — [we] have never been, that's never part of our mission. We are not involved in any armed conflict of any kind anywhere in the world. And yes, the bad guys don't like us. And the Cuban government – the foreign minister made some wonderful comments that I think we should wear as a badge of courage. They were delighted that our funding had been cut.
In terms of Mr. Musk, and I would say that, you know, he has been undertaking an incredible role in this administration to do some good things that perhaps he's uniquely qualified to do. He's a brilliant man. Having said that, he's also readily admitted that from time to time he's made mistakes, and he said when we make a mistake, we'll correct them. I think his statements on NED are part of those mistakes.
We live in a world of internet information of instant communication on X or whatever platform is your favorite and everything there is not always correct. And a lot of times people will see something that sounds right and you might retweet it and then later regret it.
So I would just give Elon Musk a little space to reflect on what NED is doing and perhaps when better informed he might have a very different view of it, and I do hope that Secretary Rubio might be the one to inform him because he knows our work and he knows we're not a part of the CIA or involved in all kinds of things.
Let me just say, by the way, for my part, and people can criticize me on this if they want, I have been for regime change in Cuba since about 1959, late, maybe 1960. And I continue to be for regime change in Cuba.
So, I would see and do anything that I could for there to be a different system in Cuba that would allow people to exercise the fullness of their human rights and for those political prisoners that have been wrongly imprisoned and who live horrible lives, to have a better opportunity to live like normal people.
So just like the furor in Eastern Europe when the systems there change, I think that would be quite refreshing for Cuba if there was regime change. But that's not the policy of NED, that's just me.
