Radio/TV Marti’s new ways of disseminating information

Posted on Friday, 06.14.13

Radio/TV Marti's new ways of disseminating information
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

Trying to get around Havana's censorship, the U.S Office of Cuba
Broadcasting is showing off novel ways to disseminate information on the
island, including USB drives made of paper and a system for sending cell
phone text messages to large groups.

"With these new initiatives we are enhancing the way that people in Cuba
can share information," said OCB director Carlos Garcia-Perez, who runs
the U.S. government's Miami-based Radio and TV Martí broadcasters.

Garcia-Perez said OCB has been anticipating Cuban efforts to block the
new initiatives — Havana already jams TV Martí and less effectively
Radio Martí — and "we already have contingency plans for that."

OCB showed off its new technology Thursday at a Washington gathering
hosted by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, in charge of all U.S.
government broadcasters, and designed to highlight how the broadcasters
are trying to increase their audiences.

Among the items displayed by OCB were USB flash drives made of paper
that can be more easily smuggled around the island. Cuban authorities
have been confiscating the regular flash drives from dissidents and
visitors arriving at Cuban airports.

"We're pretty creative here," García-Perez told El Nuevo Herald on
Friday. "As you know, the flow of information into Cuba is a constant
challenge. But we have made huge leaps to provide a free flow of
information to the people."

Radio/TV Martí already deliver their programs to Cuba by satellite and
on CDs, DVDs and regular flash drives. Its main Web pages are blocked by
Havana, but copies are accessible on thinly disguised facilities known
as proxy servers.

The broadcasters also already reach hundreds of thousands of Cubans a
month with a computerized system, developed by mass marketers, to send
out text messages to millions of people from different phone numbers so
that they cannot be blocked.

OCB staffers also highlighted a recently created social networking
system called Piramideo — roughly making pyramids — which allows
participants to create groups and sub-groups and send cell phone text
messages to large numbers of people at a time.

Families and businesses can use the system to link up groups of
relatives or customers, according to the OCB presentation in Washington.
It could also deliver uncensored news or political messages.

Under the slogan "Connect, Announce, Have Fun," the system's Web page
describes itself as "a social network that allows you to connect with
your people. From your cell phone or our Web page … Piramideo helps you
to share what happens each second with your friends, relatives, clients,
employees, etc."

Text messages sent from Cuban cell phones cost $1 but are free if sent
from the Internet.

The cell phone text messages must be sent to a number in Spain, and
there were reports Friday that the Cuban government had already blocked
the number through its telecommunications monopoly, ETECSA.

Garcia-Perez said that the system was working as of 11:39 a.m. Friday.

Read more here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/14/3451841/radiotv-martis-new-ways-of-disseminating.html#storylink=cpy