Pioneering Editor Sees Open Internet in Cuba's Future

Pioneering Editor Sees Open Internet in Cuba's Future
Reuters, July 05, 2014

A magazine editor who has tested the limits of free speech in Cuba
believes the Cuban government has no option but to allow universal
Internet access, and he plans to exploit that opening to promote a more
pluralistic Cuba.

"The government is obligated to allow it because the country's
development demands it," Roberto Veiga told Reuters in an interview on
Friday. "The government is aware it has to make political openings."

Veiga and his partner Lenier Gonzalez turned the Roman Catholic magazine
Espacio Laical (Lay Space) into a rare forum for critical, open debate
in Communist-ruled Cuba, where authorities monopolize the media and
censor the opposition.

Espacio Laical operated freely but after 10 years Veiga and Gonzalez
resigned under pressure from within the church in May. On Tuesday they
announced they were launching a new website and debating forum called
Cuba Posible.

Like the previous venture, Cuba Posible will air a broad range of views,
but now they will operate without the protection of the church, which is
by far the largest and best organized institution on the Caribbean
island with a different ideology than that of the Communist Party.

Broadband Internet is available only to a tiny minority of Cubans due to
technological and political restrictions imposed by the government.

While some authorities have said Cuba needs an open Internet for its
economic development, the government still blocks opposition websites,
such as 14ymedio.com, a news site run by dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez
and her husband, Reinaldo Escobar.

Veiga plans to keep pushing the bounds of debate.

"Evidently in Cuba there will come a time when more than one party
exists," Veiga said. "I have a personal opinion in favor of a multiparty
Cuba. Our project wants to facilitate this and contribute to serenity in
the process.

"Today in the streets of Cuba a lot of people express themselves ...
there are many small public openings. What do we need? To create a
large, national opening where all opinions can interact and collective
opinions can be formed."

Veiga, 49, was confident a measured tone would protect Cuba Posible from
official censorship, even though he said Cuban officials disliked
Espacio Laical, "especially from the ideological sector."

Veiga declined to discuss the division within the church that led them
to resign, except to repeat his previous public statement that the
church wanted the magazine to be less political.

Cuba Posible will promote "transitional change" with views from a wide
range of Cubans, Veiga said.

"Cubans want a change, a big change, but generally they yearn for a
change without disruption, change without confrontation, without
annihilation," Veiga said. "They want peaceful change within a process
of inclusion."

Source: Pioneering Editor Sees Open Internet in Cuba's Future | NDTV
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