Cuba indicates crackdown on illegal TV dishes

Cuba indicates crackdown on illegal TV dishes
Communist paper warns U.S. using broadcasts as weapon

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba's communist government has signaled a
crackdown on the use of black-market satellite dishes, a little more
than a week after ailing leader Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished
power to his brother.

The Communist Party newspaper Granma on Wednesday warned that the
dishes, which many Cubans use to watch Spanish-language television
programs from Miami, Florida, could be used by the U.S. government to
broadcast subversive information.

"They are fertile ground for those who want to carry out the Bush
administration's plan to destroy the Cuban revolution," said the
newspaper, the official voice of the government. Such an article in
Granma usually signals that action is on the way.

The article also decried the "avalanche" of capitalist advertising in
commercial television programs.

Since Castro provisionally relinquished power to his brother Raul on
July 31 after undergoing gastric surgery, Cubans have been anxious for
information on his condition and the political direction of their country.

Those who get black-market television by cable have watched with
amazement images of Miami's exile community celebrating in the streets
what they see as the end of Castro's 47-year rule.

Cuban officials say Castro, who will be 80 on Sunday, is recovering from
his operation. But neither he nor his brother have been seen in public.

Castro said in an August 1 statement that details of his health were a
state secret due to the threat of U.S. intervention in Cuba.

The Bush administration has stepped up pressure for political change in
Cuba by increasing broadcasts of U.S.-funded radio and television to the
island.

The transmissions are sent from a plane, but the Bush administration
would like to start beaming its TV Marti broadcasts by satellite.

Anecdotal accounts indicate there are more than 10,000 illegal dishes in
use in Cuba.

The owner of a dish usually sells the service to others -- sometimes
hundreds of clients -- for $10 a month via hidden cables that crisscross
roofs.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/08/09/cuba.castro.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest