Cuba’s Journey on the Internet - There’s a Long March Ahead

Cuba's Journey on the Internet: There's a Long March Ahead
By Girish Gupta / Havana @jammastergirish Aug. 14, 2013
Follow @TIMEWorld

As far as the Internet goes, Cuba is the Western Hemisphere's last
frontier. Despite the island nation's proximity to Florida — just 90
miles away — and the existence of a fully functioning fiber-optic cable
linked up to Venezuela, only 25% of the population is online, according
to last year's government statistics, which are likely inflated. In
June, Cuban citizens were for the first time legally allowed access at
designated "cyber points" but few can afford the charges—the cost of one
hour online matches an average Cuban's week's salary.

But the communist isle is hardly cut off from the outside world. The
streets and homes of Havana teem with pendrives, available from
bootleggers for around $2, which carry everything from the latest film,
music and television releases to property adverts and news. "Of course I
know Gangnam Style, the Korean guy!" exclaims Nery Galindo, 24, in the
leafy Havana district of Vedado. "But you know what, I saw it first
thanks to a pendrive, not on the Internet." A block down, Tomás Inda
Barrera, the director of the School of Creative Photography in Havana,
has a pendrive around his neck and two more in his bag. "It's the
easiest way to move information," he says. "In Cuba, almost everyone has
a pendrive. It's fundamental."

Many who are opposed to the government of the Castros hope that wider
access to data will galvanize dissent on the island. "I sincerely
believe that one day there will be a museum of Cuban democracy and it
will have a monument to the pendrive," says dissident Cuban blogger
Yoani Sánchez, 37, sitting in her Havana living room. "A society so
closed off has developed an ingenious underground mechanism to pass on
data." Sánchez has used the Internet to spread her anti-government views
despite the restricted access, having snuck into hotels to upload to her
blog and used SMS/text messages to post to Twitter. Her blog Generation
Y is popular and her Twitter account is followed by more than half a
million people. Cuban authorities have arrested Sánchez multiple times
since her blog began in 2007.

However, there is little evidence that the pendrives or a fledgling
internet are being used in such a way. In his book The Net Delusion: How
Not to Liberate the World, Belarusian writer Evgeny Morozov points to
parts of East Germany during the Cold War where it was possible, thanks
to their geography, to receive western television signals. Popular
American shows at the time such as "Dallas," "Dynasty" and "Miami Vice"
made up preferred viewing. "Western television made life in East Germany
more bearable," writes Morozov, "and by doing so it may have undermined
the struggle of the dissident movement." Sánchez admits this is an
issue. "Sadly, like many other countries, the majority of Cubans aren't
interested in politics. Most people are watching American films and
listening to American music," she says.

In Cuba, foreigners have for a long time been able to get online at
high-end hotels on eye-wateringly slow connections costing some $7 an
hour. Cubans were banned until June this year when the government
allowed them access at 118 expensive "cyber points" across the country.
With an average wage of $20 a month, however, the $4.50 an hour cost is
prohibitive to most. "I'd love to use the internet to communicate with
my family and friends abroad," says waitress Marianela López, 35, at a
bar on the Malecón, the city's iconic seafront. "But I only earn around
$10 a month."

Before the reform, a select few working in government, education and
other chosen sectors, already had cheaper access. They, alongside those
able to afford the high prices as well as those with illegal connections
— rigged to satellite dishes smuggled onto the island — are the ones who
fill the pendrives with the Internet's gems and put them into
circulation. According to Google's Transparency Report, Cuba's access to
the Internet giant's websites showed no significant rise when Cubans
were allowed to legally go online this year.

To use the internet at a "cyber point," Cubans must hand over their
identity card before logging on and their activity, while much quicker
than in hotels, is somewhat restricted. In an hour at one site in
Vedado, it was not possible to access Sánchez's blog, a CraigsList-style
classifieds website called Revolico, nor the website of Radio Martí, the
Miami-based anti-Castro station. It was, however, possible to access the
websites of TIME, the New York Times and even edit the Wikipedia entry
of Raúl Castro. Users in Vedado were predominantly catching up with
friends on Facebook.

Elaine Díaz is a supporter of the Cuban government though runs a own
blog, La Polémica Digital (the Digital Controversy), that is sometimes
critical of local authorities. Díaz says the political landscape in the
country is far more nuanced and complex than foreigners may imagine it
to be. "Cuba is more than two poles," she says. "There is a cultural and
political diversity [that has created] a space for dialogue,
conversation, discussion and reflection. The internet, even with its
limited nature on the island, has helped create this space."

In a recent interview in Communist party newspaper Granma, Deputy
Minister of Communications Wilfredo González Vidal said that he expects
prices to fall as well as implementation of WiFi services, mobile
internet access and domestic connections. He attributed delays to "the
country's economic situation and the investment needed," which the
government blames on the US embargo in force since 1960. Blaming US
policy, though, seems misplaced given that countries more friendly to
Cuba have offered help.

More than two years ago, Venezuela confirmed that an undersea
fiber-optic cable between the two countries was "fully operational."
However, the cable only began to carry traffic earlier this year, which
"suggests that infrastructure, though weak, is not the primary factor in
Cuba's digital isolation," says Ashley Greco-Stoner, a senior research
assistant at Freedom House. "The Cubans have always been very nervous
about the internet," adds Ann Louise Bardach, a long-time Cuba analyst
and author of Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and
Washington. "Unfettered information could lead to dissent and opposition."

As Communications Minister, Ramiro Valdés, 82, is in charge of the
roll-out of the internet on the island. Valdés is a veteran of the
Revolution; he fought alongside Fidel Castro in the 1950s and is
infamous for his tenure as Minister of the Interior when he oversaw
secret police operations and had a reputation for ruthless suppression
of dissidents. Valdés is said to have described the internet TO WHOM as
a "wild colt" that must be controlled. "All you need to know about the
Cuban internet is who was put in charge of it," says Bardach. "The most
feared spymaster in Cuban history was made head of the internet. That
tells you everything."

Even as the country's population of netizens grows, much more still has
to change. "Savvy people who are smart can get access," says Ted Henken,
President of the Study of the Cuban Economy based in Washington, D.C.,
and author of several books on Cuba. "But there is a big difference
between pendrives used by a connected elite group and mass access to a
pluralistic media."

Source: "Cuba's Journey on the Internet: There's a Long March Ahead |
TIME.com" -
http://world.time.com/2013/08/14/cubas-embrace-of-the-internet-theres-a-long-march-ahead/