Creative Associates International, the spooky group behind the infamous Cuban Twitter operation, and an NGO involved in dismantling Venezuela's food system get fresh injections of cash.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those ofMexico Solidarity Media*, or theMexico Solidarity Project.*

On January 12th, the US Department of Labor announced it had awarded $15.4 million to Partners of the Americas and $8 million to Creative Associates International to “support efforts with Mexico’s government, private sector, and workers to enforce labor laws and ensure compliance with labor provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated under the first Trump administration.”

Regime change operative Noy Villalobos initiated the infamous “Cuban Twitter” operation as a manager, and is now Vice President at Creative Associates International.

Creative Associates International is a Washington based removedoutfit which grew into a lucrative contractor for the US military industrial complex during the Reagan period. The organization known by its not-so-subtle acronym CAI was the USAID subcontractor responsible for the three year Zunzuneo operation against Cuba, ending in 2012. Zunzuneo was a direct messaging service disseminated across Cuba ostensibly for sharing news and information, that was used by the US government for surveillance, disruption and regime change purposes.

Journalist Ben Norton has identified the organization’s involvement in other destabilization and anti-democratic interference projects across Central America, and said that in Nicaragua, “with plentiful funding from USAID, the CIA cutout has cynically exploited sensitive issues to increase social divisions, intentionally driving a [wedge] between Nicaraguans and their Sandinista government with programs targeting racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the LGBT community, and at-risk youth.”

According to EcuRed, “Creative Associates is among the top U.S. government contractors tasked with helping to engineer political transitions,” while journalist Alan Macleod says that “Creative Associates International essentially serves as a semi-privatized government in many countries, overseeing education and healthcare systems, security services and local management. It also provides a wide range of clandestine services: spying, intelligence and regime-change operations.”

Partners of the Americas had previously received a $6.2 million, five year grant from the US government, in order to “Ensure a smooth transition from government-controlled food distribution system under the Maduro regime to a market-based food system under a new Venezuelan government.”

American labour leader George Meany was an eager partner with US imperialism in its attacks on international trade unionism.

Union density in Mexico is not as substantial as it is in other Latin American countries like Argentina, Cuba and Colombia, but Mexico’s trade unions have a long, radical history and still retain an important place in the country’s political and economic life.

Radical, class-conscious organizations like the CNTE co-exist (uneasily) in the movement along with the traditional yellow “charro” unions (many now transferring allegiance from the PRI to Morena) and newly formed “independent” trade unions operating primarily in the auto sector, who have benefitted from the USMCA’s Rapid Response Mechanism, which allows the US government significant powers to interfere in Mexican labour relations and cancel exports to the US markets under the guise of protecting workers rights when a complaint is initiated, but does not offer similar powers to Canadian and Mexican governments.

With labour relations in Mexico undergoing significant changes since the first Fourth Transformation government took power in 2018 in a country dominated by US and multinational corporate ownership, it’s no surprise that US imperialism would continue putting money into the trade union sector, as it did in 2021, when Vice-President Kamala Harris, on her first trip abroad, announced $130 million “for advice to improve labor legislation” in Mexico.

Mexican labour, which is heavily exploited for the benefit of US corporations, has long been under surveillance and outright attack, but it’s also feasible that US imperialism in the Trump period is continuing with a more long-term project to introduce misnamed “International” unions into Mexico, as already exist in Canada.

International unions ostensibly represent workers in both Canada and the US and arose out of the 19th century, often producing strong class-struggle organizations, but in practice since the Cold War are headquartered in the United States, integrated into the US military security apparatus through bureaucratic relationships, funding and partnerships, and even respond primarily to American interests. Only this week, the Seafarers International Union, joined the American Maritime Officers, International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association in a letter begging US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to get a cut of the natural resource wealth of the Venezuelan people that US imperialism is attempting to steal from after the January 3rd attack and kidnapping of that country’s President Nicolas Maduro and First Combatant Celia Flores. In the last year, President Sean Fain of the United Autoworkers (an international union) has been extremely supportive of Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico, including auto tariffs, despite representing workers in Canada whose jobs are affected by it.

While the US government enacted large budget cuts at USAID in 2025, a move President Sheinbaum celebrated, while suggesting it would be “better if they shut it down,” this appears to be administrative and political bickering, not an end to US imperialism’s long-standing priorities of international interference, anti-democratic meddling and regime change. Money still flows to former USAID collaborators like the AFL-CIO’s misnamed Solidarity Center (which despite being founded by the federation receives over 90% of its funding from the US state), to CIA-cutouts like Creative Associates International and the Partners of Americas. While the organizations continued presence in Mexico should be alarming enough, in the context of US aggression against Venezuela (which Partners of the Americas was heavily involved in) and President Trump’s recent comments about attacking Mexico, this recent funding announcement for CAI and the Partners of Americas should be an issue of immediate concern to the Mexican working class.

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