Cuba's Constricted Internet: Get Cubans Connected

Cuba's Constricted Internet: Get Cubans Connected
Last Modified: Saturday, June 16, 2012 at 12:27 a.m.

Marco Rubio, U.S. senator from Florida, is right: America should use its
technological prowess to extend affordable Internet access in Cuba.

Rubio — a Republican from Miami — said during a recent Senate hearing
that the United States has the capability to use satellites to provide
Internet access in Cuba.

Such access, Rubio contended, would enable pro-democracy Cubans to
exchange information, mobilize politically and learn more about life off
the island.

Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger identified by Time magazine in 2009 as
one of the 100 most influential people in the world, agrees that
Internet access is vital.

"From my experience, having access to information and technology
fundamental for a free country," Sanchez told the Voice of America in
March. "A person who holds a flash memory and has access to at least a
minute of Internet can change his or her life. That makes that citizen
more empowered, more aware of his rights, perhaps more likely to speak
up because he doesn't like what is happening. I think in order to help
Cubans it is necessary to empower them technologically, so that they can
become 21st century Internet users. Because without it, we will not
become more democratic; we will not be free."

CLOSE CONTROL

The Internet is available in Cuba, but, as Sanchez told VOA, access is
tightly controlled: The government does not allow "average citizens" to
obtain a household connection. Access via hotels (where tourists stay),
prepaid phone cards (imported by tourists) or the black market is
prohibitively expensive.

What's more, personal computers are difficult to buy, and, although the
Cuban government began allowing everyone to purchase cellphones in 2008,
other Latin American nations have much higher usage rates, and phones in
Cuba generally have limited capability to access the Internet and employ
social media.

Rubio continues to support the U.S. embargo on trade and exchanges with
Cuba, and he derides the Obama administration's incremental easing of
those restrictions. That's where Rubio is wrong.

Cuba's political repression and abuse of human rights are unacceptable.
The best ways to promote democracy and enable Cubans to gain the
prosperity to afford technology would be to ease the embargo, and
increase cultural and economic exchanges.

Rubio deserves credit for shining a light on Cuba's blockage of
self-determination and violations of human rights. However, it is time
to change U.S. policy and recognize that successful use of social media
requires uncensored, affordable access to the Internet and the devices
that make it work.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20120616/EDIT01/120619484/1036?p=all&tc=pgall