By JUAN CARLOS CHAVEZ
El Nuevo Herald

Cuba's independent libraries, one of the key branches of the dissident movement, is suffering through a crisis of leadership that pits its activists on and off the island against each other.

Gisela Delgado said she and a group of activists involved with the Independent Library Project of Cuba (PBIC) have severed ties with the movement's founders, Humberto Colás and Berta Mexidor Velzquez, both living in exile in the United States.

Delgado, who is executive director for the project on the island, said the organization does not ''take orders from abroad'' and raised questions regarding the administration of funds, specifically the transparency of private donations.

She said the decision to cut off ties with Colás and Mexidor was taken because of questions about the funds and efforts to manage the project from abroad without taking into account "that it's here in Cuba where the political and social changes will occur.''

IN HOMES

The independent libraries, hosted in members' homes, usually offer a selection of works not easily found in Cuban government libraries or banned altogether, such as books on human rights.

Since 2005, the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington has made yearly grants to Bibliotecas Independientes Inc., a Florida non-profit registered to Colás and Mexidor to assist the libraries in Cuba.

According to the nonprofit's most recent budget, from July 2007 through June 2008, 23 percent of the $143,166 budget was destined for specific projects in Cuba, including $10,000 for assistance to 125 librarians, $6,000 for the libraries' operations and $4,500 for assistance to relatives of 15 jailed librarians. The rest of the budget was allotted for fundraising and administration.

Delgado told El Nuevo Herald that the librarians on the island did not know about the funding provided by NED and that the administrators abroad did not provide clear explanations when asked about the matter.

She said she became aware of the funding during a trip abroad in 2007 with her husband, political dissident Hector Palacios, when she met with Mexidor and Colás and asked about the funding.

According to Delgado, none of the librarians is paid for their work.

`EXPLANATIONS'

For their part, Mexidor and Colás have denied the accusations, and in an e-mail to El Nuevo Herald, Mexidor wrote that Delgado "had the opportunity to meet with NED officials during her . . . visit and with us, and during both meetings she received explanations about the budget's administration.''

Colás denied they had ordered Delgado's removal, or that they impart orders of any kind to the Cuban librarians, whom they have assisted since 1998.