CUBA
Cuba going after illegal satellite TV
The Cuban government appears to be cracking down on illegal satellite TV
dishes, an important source of outside information on the island.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
José Antonio provided the supplies and the technical know-how, and got a
friend, Celestino, to pitch in on weekends so they could sell illegal
access to telenovelas and cartoons to fellow Cubans.
A full-page article in Thursday's Cuban daily newspaper Granma explained
how the pair rented a shop from a man named Lázaro in a Havana
neighborhood, where they soldered and screwed bolts on satellite dishes
with enough materials to make at least 30.
Police dubbed it ''The Antenna Case.'' The three men now face up to
three years in prison. A fourth man had a net worth of more than $38,000
-- a fortune in Cuba -- mostly in electronics.
'They are sending a shot across the bow: `We're not going to permit
this. We will try to control and do something about it,' '' said
University of Miami Cuba expert Andy Gómez. ``They are continuing to put
a fence around the island and secure what's coming in.''
MARTI GETTING THROUGH
Just two months after the U.S. government announced it would transmit TV
Martí, its anti-Castro propaganda channel, on Direct TV -- which Cubans
can watch with banned satellite dishes -- Cuban authorities appear to be
going after the illegal signals with a vengeance.
'The rise in the number of the people in the world who `consume'
programs transmitted by satellite and cable, fraudulently pirating [the
signal] . . . is worrisome,'' Granma said. ``It shows the Bush
administration's double standard: On the one hand they severely punish
television signal piracy in their own country; on the other, they
promote its use in Cuba.''
The newspaper story detailing the nearly year-old criminal case of José
Antonio and his friends was the second article denouncing TV Martí in a
week. And Cubanet, a Miami-based exile news organization that publishes
dispatches from independent journalists on the island, reported Thursday
that the Cuban National Police and the telephone company were patrolling
city streets on the hunt for illegal TV hook-ups.
''The attention they are giving it now gives us confidence that TV Martí
is working,'' said Alberto Mascaro, chief of staff for the Office of
Cuba Broadcasting, the government office that runs TV Martí. ``If they
are so worried about it, that only means one thing: It is working.''
NEW DIRECTOR
Other experts said it's unclear whether the warning was a reply to TV
Martí, or simply a demonstration of power by newly named Communications
Minister Ramiro Valdés, a hard-liner.
Satellite dishes are illegal in Cuba, except for the rare entities like
hotels which have the required permit. But U.S. officials estimate there
are 10,000 to 30,000 dishes on the island assembled using smuggled
parts. In 2005, a Cuban-American named Carlos Valdés was arrested at the
Havana airport trying to bring in satellite receivers, cables, remote
controls and batteries, Granma reported last year.
In a nation where there are only four TV channels, some families are
eager to spend $10 a month for a chance to watch Univisión and other
U.S. stations. In August, Cubans watched exiles dancing on Calle Ocho
streets at news of Fidel Castro's sickness. Days later, the government
began a crackdown.
The Direct TV signal also carries Azteca América, a channel that
broadcasts one hour a day of TV Martí.
Critics have blasted the Office of Cuba Broadcasting for years, saying
it spends millions of dollars broadcasting shows nobody watches, because
the Cuban government easily jams its nonsatellite signals. The December
move to air the programs on Direct TV was aimed at broadening the
audience and skirting Cuban jamming.
''I would compare this to Iran, where our satellite TV is quite popular
and eventually has led in the past six months to a series of crackdowns
on people with satellites, although it's always been illegal,'' said
Larry Hart, spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which
oversees TV Martí. ``They seem to crack down when they get word that too
many people are getting the news.''
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