Costa Rica to investigate US program that recruited anti-government activists to work in Cuba

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Costa Rica's director of intelligence and security says his government will investigate undercover U.S. programs based in the Central American country that were designed to destabilize the government in Cuba.

Mariano Figueres says Costa Rica has found no records or information on a project overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development that starting in 2009 sent young Venezuelans, Costa Ricans and Peruvians to Cuba in hopes of stirring opposition to the government.

Figueres said Friday the information came from an Aug. 4 Associated Press article, which said USAID and contractor Creative Associates International used the cover of health and civic programs hoping to provoke political change. Some were based in Costa Rica.

The travelers dressed as tourists scouted Cuba for people they could turn into political activists.