Its motto, “From the American People,” usually stamped on containers bound for conflict zones, might more accurately be read as “From the U.S. State Department” as USAID functions as a direct arm of U.S. foreign policy.

It is funded and staffed by the State Department, controlling or overseeing a budget of “US$16.8 billion in assistance that USAID fully or partially manages through the Economic Support and Development Fund, Global Health Programs, Transition Initiatives, International Disaster Assistance, and USAID operational accounts.”

USAID works closely with the more visible regime change body the National Endowment for Democracy in “Transition Initiatives”—Washington-speak for regime change or regime consolidation programs.

USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance oversees the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), which “supports U.S. foreign policy objectives by helping local partners advance peace and democracy” and whose “programs serve as catalysts for positive political change.” USAID has been instrumental in organizing the fake humanitarian “aid” convoys ostensibly designed to alleviate suffering inside Venezuela.

In a recent CNN interview in a Colombian warehouse where the convoy trucks were parked, USAID’s chief administrator Mark Green said: “Today February 17 what we did was bring in a new shipment of humanitarian assistance, about 66 metric tons.

“As I made clear, this was not the first, nor will it be the last, there will be other shipments coming in, other materials coming in from countries like Indonesia, they’ll be coming in from a variety of sources and it really is inaudible what President Guaidó asked of President Trump.

“President Guaidó, who we officially recognize as interim president of Venezuela, had a specific request for emergency medical care and nutrition, and so we’ve been responding.

“We’ve been mobilizing assistance getting here, prepositioning here in Colombia, obviously Cucuta primarily, which is what President Guaidó and his representatives have asked for. But it’s important because we’re providing real hope for the people of Venezuela.”

Green does not even bother to hide that this “aid” is aligned with the political agenda of the Trump administration and its hand-picked “interim president.”

USAID was set up in 1961 as part of the Cold War battle for hearts, bellies, and minds.

In 2009, in a briefing for the Carnegie Endowment, Thomas Carothers outlined the integrated nature of U.S. regime change—or to use one of the preferred euphemisms “democracy assistance”—agencies and particularly that of USAID.

He wrote: “Over the past 25 years, the United States has built up a substantial body of democracy assistance and now devotes approximately $2.5 billion a year to it (with about half of the assistance directed at Iraq and Afghanistan).

“Three organizations serve as the main funders of such aid: the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of State, and the private, nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

“Beyond USAID and the State Department, several other parts of the government also sponsor assistance programs that include efforts to support democratic institutions and practices abroad, including the Department of Defense, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the Department of Justice.”

According to Carrothers, USAID’s spending on political work rose from $165 million in 1991 to $635 million by 1999, with $288 million allocated to central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; $123 million in sub-Saharan Africa; $111 million in Asia and the Middle East, $86 million in Latin America, and $27 million on global programs.

According to the agency’s website: “USAID’s Venezuela program supports civil society, promotes human rights, strengthens democratic governance, encourages civic engagement, and expands dialogues.

“We also help address the rights of citizens to be informed by independent and free media. Our assistance provides trainings, exchanges with other Latin American countries, support for research, and opportunities for Venezuelans to share ideas.

“USAID programs reflect the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, such as freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the rights to fair and transparent elections.

“USAID is building the capacity of the National Assembly to be a viable democratic institution that represents all Venezuelans.”

USAID and the NED have channeled hundreds of millions of dollars into the counter-revolutionary camp in Venezuela since the very first years of the Hugo Chávez-initiated Bolivarian Revolution. The same level of sabotaging democratically elected regime of Venezuela is continuing. (IPA Service)