Cuban Dissidents and U.S. Support

It is important for the credibility of Cuban dissidents to avoid getting assistance from the U.S. government. Tracey Eaton notes how incredibly savvy Yoani Sánchez has been in that regard, getting money on the fly from a very broad array of supporters in the United States for her trip.

This alone should give pause to those who support the current policy toward Cuba. Over the years that policy has become so morally bankrupt that the people we purport to help run away from us as quickly as possible. Ironically, many of the people Yoani Sánchez met up with also support a policy that makes her want to run away from it.

That brings up a question for which I don't have a good answer. As she met with hardcore hardliners, I wondered whether such meetings were essentially the equivalent of accepting money from the U.S. government. Is there a substantive difference between getting money to attend a State Department conference and meeting up with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen?