Prison Diary XXX Internet in Cuba

Prison Diary XXX: Internet in Cuba / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on June 22, 2013

The Cuban government announces Internet connection points around the
country, proving that the cable extending from Venezuela, which was the
pretext for justifying out exile from browsing the digital networks, is
working in the nation. They say, however, that it has not yet been
approved for use in Cuban households thus maintaining the iron
surveillance of the dictatorship.

With an exorbitant price for Cubans, those who earn the highest salaries
would have to work about five days to consume one hour of connection, ie
the best paid may consume five hours a month, but this would not allow
them to also feed or clean themselves, and they would have to pray to
have no dependents to maintain.

The "points" indicated, according to official information, will be the
Youth Clubs, which belong to the leadership of the Young Communists, and
it will be a way to announce to the world that in Cuba the population
"has" internet.

When I heard the news that an hour of connection would cost 4.50 CUC,
just over 110.00 Cuban pesos, which is the currency that is paid to the
people who sweat, I did the calculation below: a midlevel teacher would
have to work seven days just to hear from his family abroad, because
reading news would be impossible treat to give yourself.

As the government does not solve nor interest itself in social problems,
and we know this through each measure it dictates, it is not hard to
convince oneself that it's looking to get nationals out of the hotel
internet rooms and away from tourists, and to some extent to limit the
protection of dissidents who, in the majority of cases, are not arrested
in tourist areas so as not to damage even further the tarnished image
that the regime has earned abroad.

Now from the Youth Clubs, located in the city slums, they can pursue,
monitor and suppress the footsteps of those who dare to criticize the
government and demand Human Rights; and in passing they will alter their
figures, as they often do, and will tell the Human Rights Commission in
Geneva that the internet is free and available to those who need it;
what they won't say is that for the average citizen, the use of it will
be an act of science fiction.

21 June 2013

Source: "Prison Diary XXX: Internet in Cuba / Angel Santiesteban |
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