Police target foreign broadcast antennas
HAVANA, Cuba -February 7 (Juan Carlos Linares Balmaseda /
www.cubanet.org) - Police and telephone company employees are combing
the streets looking for signs of home-made antennas designed to pull in
TV programs broadcast from abroad and distributed by satellite.
Specifically, the dragnet is directed to Direct TV signals, from the US.
Neighbors of Luyanó described one such raid: "Two police cars and a
dozen ETECSA (telephone company) employees were walking down Pérez
Street and whenever they saw a suspicious cable they cut it," said
Rafael Carlos Núñez and Nelson Herrera, both Luyanó residents.
Residents in other areas of the capital reported similar activities in
their neighborhoods.
The Direct TV signal is only allowed in Cuba in certain hotels
restricted for foreign visitors. Even then, the signal is cut off in the
evenings during the Cuban TV broadcast of the "Round Table," a program
with heavy ideological content.
Many here have ventured that the dragnet was prompted by the U. S.
government's announcement that TV Martí broadcasts are in future to be
relayed by satellite and thus would become available to those who have
the improvised antennas.
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