Cuba
Organisation:
Domain name : .cu
Population : 11 451 652
Internet-users : ~ 1 604 000
Average charge for one hour’s connection at a cybercafé : 1,63 US$ for the national network – 5,4 to 6,8 US$ for the international.
Average monthly salary : around 20,48 US$
Number of imprisoned netizens : 0 Despite a few improvements, Internet access actually remains beyond the reach of most of the population because of its high cost and low connection speeds. The regime, which maintains two parallel network, is now taking aim at a small blogger community that is becoming increasingly active. Modest improvements In January 2010, the government announced that Cuba had increased its Internet connection capacity by 10% in the previous month, thanks to an improved satellite link. Although it claims that there will be a qualitative improvement in the island’s telecommunications services, it has no intention of expanding them. The government’s strategy is to “promote collective access,” but in reality, access is still reserved for a privileged few. Raul Castro raised hopes for broader access in 2008, when he announced that he would lift the ban prohibiting Cubans from owning a personal computer and from visiting tourist hotels in order to access the Internet. However, these new rules did not translate into a more widespread Internet access. The government’s priority is still total control of information. Boris Moreno, the Vice Minister of Information Technology and Communications, stated in 2008 that “the use of the Internet (must serve) to defend the Revolution and the principles in which (Cuba) has believed for years.” The Cuban Intranet and its abuses Two parallel networks co-exist on the island: the international network and a tightly controlled Cuban Intranet consisting solely of an encyclopedia, a few email addresses ending in “.cu” and some government news websites such as Granma. Outside of the hotels, only a few privileged people have special clearance to connect to the international network. The latter is also subject to censorship, which primarily targets dissident publications on foreign websites. The regime lacks the means to set up a Chinese-style automatic filtering system. But they are counting on several factors to limit Internet access: the exorbitant connection cost – about USD 1.50 dollars per hour from point-of-access to the state-controlled Intranet, and USD 7 per hour in a hotel to access the international network, even though the average monthly salary is USD 20 – and infrastructural problems, notably slow connections. Such obstacles restrict the number of Internet users capable of surfing, as well as the time spent online. Most Internet users are content to read their emails and answer them – they don’t have time to browse and “linger” online. A genuine black market has emerged willing to buy or “rent” passwords and codes of the few individuals and companies that have clearance from the incumbent party to access the Internet. Navigating the Net costs USD 50 per month and receiving/sending one email message USD 1. Illegal users take the precaution of connecting only at night. USB flash drives: the local “samizdat” Of the 150+ existing Cuban blogs, some twenty focus on news and commentary about local life. Even the Catholic Church has joined the Web by creating a blog. The majority of bloggers are apolitical and sign their postings using their real name. They avoid discussing the government and dissident movements on the island or abroad. Instead, they focus on Cuban people’s daily concerns, thereby filling a void in the regime-muffled state media, which limit themselves to singing the praises of the “Consulante.” Bloggers avoid foreign embassies and their Internet access points so as not to be accused of being foreign agents. All of these reasons partially explain why the regime initially left them alone. These bloggers do not have direct access to their websites, which are not hosted on the island. They have to publish their writings and posts via friends in foreign countries. They do that by following a well-tested procedure: they prepare their content in advance, copy it onto a USB flash drive, and send it via email from a hotel. The USB flash drives, which are being passed from one blogger to another, have become the new vectors of freedom of expression in Cuba – the local “samizdat.” Regime reprisals In the last few months, the authorities have begun to unfavorably view this dissemination of news that has been outside of their control and to be offended by the increasing popularity of some of these bloggers, such as Yoani Sanchez and her blog, Generacion Y. Voted by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the year’s 100 most influential people, she has been hounded by a genuine defamation campaign on the island. Accused of being a mercenary serving a foreign power, her name has been dragged through the mud by the state media. On November 6 of last year, state security policemen assaulted Yoani Sanchez and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo on the eve of a demonstration. A third blogger, Luis Felipe Rojas, was arrested twice in December 2009 and is being kept under house arrest. A student named Darío Alejandro Paulino Escobar was expelled from the University of Havana in January 2010 for having created a “polemic” group on the social network Facebook. The group in question contained the minutes of a meeting held by the Union of Young Communists (UYC) (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=93444203329). The authorities are now determined to occupy an area that they had previously overlooked: an official association of Cuban bloggers has been created. And possible links between the Cuban government and hackers who are attacking Cuban websites and blogs hosted abroad are under heavy scrutiny. The judicial arsenal against online criticism remains particularly repressive. Cuban Internet users face up to 20 years in prison if they post what is deemed to be a “counter-revolutionary” article on a foreign-hosted Internet website, and 5 years if they connect illegally to the international network. The Cuban regime has been blaming the American embargo for depriving the country of a good Web connection by preventing it from accessing international networks. This problem should be partially resolved in 2011, when the underwater optical fiber cable linking Cuba to Venezuela should come into service, thereby increasing the island’s capacity to connect to the rest of the globe. The Cuban government will then need to come up with new excuses to continue justifying censorship, unless it should decide – for economic development reasons – to rethink its Internet strategy. Apparently Yoani Sanchez’s predictions that “the real island is starting to convert into a virtual island” will take a little longer than expected to be realized. Links:
http://www.cubanet.org: website of an independent journalist in Cuba (English and Spanish)
http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony (Generacion Y): blog by Yoani Sanchez in Havana which has helped publicise the controversy around the video made at UCI (Spanish)
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/ http://www.granma.cu: website of the official daily Granma (French, English, Spanish)
Population : 11 451 652
Internet-users : ~ 1 604 000
Average charge for one hour’s connection at a cybercafé : 1,63 US$ for the national network – 5,4 to 6,8 US$ for the international.
Average monthly salary : around 20,48 US$
Number of imprisoned netizens : 0 Despite a few improvements, Internet access actually remains beyond the reach of most of the population because of its high cost and low connection speeds. The regime, which maintains two parallel network, is now taking aim at a small blogger community that is becoming increasingly active. Modest improvements In January 2010, the government announced that Cuba had increased its Internet connection capacity by 10% in the previous month, thanks to an improved satellite link. Although it claims that there will be a qualitative improvement in the island’s telecommunications services, it has no intention of expanding them. The government’s strategy is to “promote collective access,” but in reality, access is still reserved for a privileged few. Raul Castro raised hopes for broader access in 2008, when he announced that he would lift the ban prohibiting Cubans from owning a personal computer and from visiting tourist hotels in order to access the Internet. However, these new rules did not translate into a more widespread Internet access. The government’s priority is still total control of information. Boris Moreno, the Vice Minister of Information Technology and Communications, stated in 2008 that “the use of the Internet (must serve) to defend the Revolution and the principles in which (Cuba) has believed for years.” The Cuban Intranet and its abuses Two parallel networks co-exist on the island: the international network and a tightly controlled Cuban Intranet consisting solely of an encyclopedia, a few email addresses ending in “.cu” and some government news websites such as Granma. Outside of the hotels, only a few privileged people have special clearance to connect to the international network. The latter is also subject to censorship, which primarily targets dissident publications on foreign websites. The regime lacks the means to set up a Chinese-style automatic filtering system. But they are counting on several factors to limit Internet access: the exorbitant connection cost – about USD 1.50 dollars per hour from point-of-access to the state-controlled Intranet, and USD 7 per hour in a hotel to access the international network, even though the average monthly salary is USD 20 – and infrastructural problems, notably slow connections. Such obstacles restrict the number of Internet users capable of surfing, as well as the time spent online. Most Internet users are content to read their emails and answer them – they don’t have time to browse and “linger” online. A genuine black market has emerged willing to buy or “rent” passwords and codes of the few individuals and companies that have clearance from the incumbent party to access the Internet. Navigating the Net costs USD 50 per month and receiving/sending one email message USD 1. Illegal users take the precaution of connecting only at night. USB flash drives: the local “samizdat” Of the 150+ existing Cuban blogs, some twenty focus on news and commentary about local life. Even the Catholic Church has joined the Web by creating a blog. The majority of bloggers are apolitical and sign their postings using their real name. They avoid discussing the government and dissident movements on the island or abroad. Instead, they focus on Cuban people’s daily concerns, thereby filling a void in the regime-muffled state media, which limit themselves to singing the praises of the “Consulante.” Bloggers avoid foreign embassies and their Internet access points so as not to be accused of being foreign agents. All of these reasons partially explain why the regime initially left them alone. These bloggers do not have direct access to their websites, which are not hosted on the island. They have to publish their writings and posts via friends in foreign countries. They do that by following a well-tested procedure: they prepare their content in advance, copy it onto a USB flash drive, and send it via email from a hotel. The USB flash drives, which are being passed from one blogger to another, have become the new vectors of freedom of expression in Cuba – the local “samizdat.” Regime reprisals In the last few months, the authorities have begun to unfavorably view this dissemination of news that has been outside of their control and to be offended by the increasing popularity of some of these bloggers, such as Yoani Sanchez and her blog, Generacion Y. Voted by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the year’s 100 most influential people, she has been hounded by a genuine defamation campaign on the island. Accused of being a mercenary serving a foreign power, her name has been dragged through the mud by the state media. On November 6 of last year, state security policemen assaulted Yoani Sanchez and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo on the eve of a demonstration. A third blogger, Luis Felipe Rojas, was arrested twice in December 2009 and is being kept under house arrest. A student named Darío Alejandro Paulino Escobar was expelled from the University of Havana in January 2010 for having created a “polemic” group on the social network Facebook. The group in question contained the minutes of a meeting held by the Union of Young Communists (UYC) (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=93444203329). The authorities are now determined to occupy an area that they had previously overlooked: an official association of Cuban bloggers has been created. And possible links between the Cuban government and hackers who are attacking Cuban websites and blogs hosted abroad are under heavy scrutiny. The judicial arsenal against online criticism remains particularly repressive. Cuban Internet users face up to 20 years in prison if they post what is deemed to be a “counter-revolutionary” article on a foreign-hosted Internet website, and 5 years if they connect illegally to the international network. The Cuban regime has been blaming the American embargo for depriving the country of a good Web connection by preventing it from accessing international networks. This problem should be partially resolved in 2011, when the underwater optical fiber cable linking Cuba to Venezuela should come into service, thereby increasing the island’s capacity to connect to the rest of the globe. The Cuban government will then need to come up with new excuses to continue justifying censorship, unless it should decide – for economic development reasons – to rethink its Internet strategy. Apparently Yoani Sanchez’s predictions that “the real island is starting to convert into a virtual island” will take a little longer than expected to be realized. Links:
http://www.cubanet.org: website of an independent journalist in Cuba (English and Spanish)
http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony (Generacion Y): blog by Yoani Sanchez in Havana which has helped publicise the controversy around the video made at UCI (Spanish)
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/ http://www.granma.cu: website of the official daily Granma (French, English, Spanish)
Published on
Updated on
20.01.2016
