Cuban-American Leaders Helped ‘Cuban Twitter'

The Associated Press has learned that leaders with the largest nonprofit organization for young Cuban-Americans quietly provided strategic support for the federal government's secret "Cuban Twitter" program, connecting contractors with potential investors and even serving as paid consultants.
 
Interviews and documents obtained by the AP show Roots of Hope leaders were approached by the "Cuban Twitter" program's organizers in early 2011 about taking over the text-messaging service and discussed how to help it go private.
 
Few if any investors were willing to finance the service and Roots of Hope members dropped the idea. But at least two of its board members later worked as consultants, even though their group explicitly refuses to accept any government funding.
 
The disclosure could have wide repercussions for one of the most visible Cuban-American organizations.