Cuba promises to offer internet to all citizens — with restrictions

Cuba promises to offer internet to all citizens — with restrictions
More and more Cubans have access to cellphones and email accounts
JUAN JESÚS AZNAREZ Havana 8 ABR 2014 - 19:19 CET

The Cuban government has promised that it will allow its citizens to
access the internet from their homes – something that can currently only
be done at state-run internet cafés – but it said it would not permit
them to access "counter-revolutionary" sites financed by Washington.

Cuba has recently made inroads into opening up its society and allowing
people to connect with the outside world. But according to dissidents,
new technologies are still restricted in many ways because Cuban
Communist Party (PCC) leaders fear that more openness will lead to them
losing their hold on absolute power.

At the same time, Havana angrily lodged a protest with Washington last
week over its promotion of an ambitious cellphone texting service
designed to bombard users with anti-Castro messages.

On a recent day when Cuban authorities denied to EL PAÍS that they were
restricting access to global networks, dozens of young people interested
in purchasing a cellphone, opening an email account and surfing the
internet could be seen crowding in front of the state-run ETECSA
communications office in Havana's El Vedado district.

An estimated two million Cubans, out of a total population of 11
million, own a cellphone – a growing number, but still miniscule
compared with other Latin American nations. Around 330,000 islanders are
also permitted to surf the internet through government-approved
accounts. Cubans can check their emails at cybercafés and by cellphone
through a new state domain: name@nauta.cu.

They don't want everyone using Facebook or Twitter"
Another undetermined number use pirated internet signals or email
accounts opened by friends abroad.

"There is no censorship but we lack the technical capability to offer
more than what we can offer with the budget we have," explains Tania
Velázquez, an ETECSA official. The state communications agency runs 118
internet centers for the public across the island, containing a total of
520 computers running on slow 2G networks. Government officials have
their own internet service.

"We need to invest more, in the manner in which we can, to obtain more
technical capacity but there are no regulatory or commercial barriers.
Our objective is to reach all households," says Luis Manuel Díaz,
another ETECSA official.

But sources say the government has no intention of allowing this to
happen. The connectivity is there: an underwater fiber optic cable
linking Cuba with Venezuela has been in operation for about a year now.

"They don't want everyone using Facebook or Twitter, and allowing people
to always be connected, which could lead to an eventual mobilization,"
says one businessman, who describes himself as "interested" in President
Raúl Castro's economic reforms.

An estimated two million Cubans, out of a total population of 11
million, own a cellphone
But the Cuban government also has other reasons. On Thursday, the Cuban
Foreign Ministry lodged an official complaint over a plan by agencies
and private companies with links to the Obama administration "to promote
subversion" on the island.

The complaint came after the Associated Press reported earlier this
month that the United States tried to initiate a "Twitter-like" Cuban
messaging service called Zunzuneo to offer news, sports and
entertainment to thousands of subscribers on the island. According to
the plan – supported by documents and interviews obtained by AP – once
the service reached a certain number of subscribers, political messages
would be transmitted in the hope of mobilizing the people to push for
change.

According to AP, the system was developed in Barcelona. The Obama
administration defended the program and said it complied with US
anti-espionage and trade laws but there are critics who believe otherwise.

Two years ago, the US Treasury Department imposed a $1.75 billion fine
on Ericsson, the world's biggest cellphone company, for doing business
with Cuba and violating the 1962 US embargo with the island.

And there have been ways to circumvent US laws. In 2007, Cuba and
Venezuela signed an agreement for a fiber optic cable that connected the
island with the South American nation, which went into operation last
year and has given the island better connectivity.

Source: Cuba promises to offer internet to all citizens — with
restrictions | In English | EL PAÍS -
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/04/08/inenglish/1396975288_827346.html