It turns out that Cuba's ex-leader loves the Web, although most of the
Cuban people still lack access.
September 4, 2010
Fidel Castro is back from the dead (his words) and has been reincarnated
as an Internet junkie. Not only is he a prolific blogger on Cuba's
online Granma newspaper but, it turns out, the 84-year-old greybeard
consumes 200 to 300 news items a day on the Web and is fascinated by the
WikiLeaks site, with its trove of 90,000 formerly secret U.S. documents
on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The "resuscitated" revolutionary is smaller and shakier than he was
before the intestinal illness that prompted him to hand power to his
younger brother in 2006, but no less verbose. He spoke with the editor
of the Mexican newspaper La Jornada for five hours, during which he
raved about the profound impact of the Web. "Do you know what this
means, comrade?" he asked, like some sort of Rip Van Winkle waking up in
the 21st century. The Internet, he said, "has put an end to secrets....
We are seeing a high level of investigative journalism, as the New York
Times calls it, that is within reach of the whole world."
Well, not the whole world. Cuba, for example, has the lowest level of
Internet penetration in the hemisphere, plus severe government
restrictions and censorship affecting those who do have access. A
Brookings Institution report says that Cuba has 1.3 million users, or
13% of the population, according to Cuban government statistics — or
about 2.6% by international estimates. Either way, that's lower even
than impoverished Haiti's 23%.
In the interview, Castro blamed the U.S. trade embargo for denying Cuba
access to an underwater fiber-optic cable, forcing the island to rely
instead on expensive satellite access at a cost of about $5 an hour to
consumers — a third of the monthly wage of the average Cuban. President
Obama issued a directive last year allowing telecom providers to enter
into agreements to extend cable to Cuba, although only as far as the
shore, not onto the island; a company from a third country or the Cuban
government itself would have to finish the job. For that reason, or
possibly because American firms are skittish about the Cuban
state-controlled economy, nothing has happened. Venezuela is likely to
provide cable access to Cuba before the U.S. does.
In the meantime, the technological limits and high costs, as well as the
U.S. trade embargo, have served the Cuban government's political
interest in maintaining its grip on media and information, which is why
the Castro interview offers delicious irony. Castro called Web
communication "the most powerful weapon that has existed" and extolled
its power to break a stranglehold on the media by "the empire" (that
means the United States, of course) and "ambitious private groups that
have abused it." But the fact that it is such a powerful weapon is, of
course, precisely why unfettered access for all Cubans isn't really on
Big Brother Fidel's mind.
His younger sibling, President Raul Castro, began allowing all Cubans to
buy personal computers in 2008, but a private Internet connection
requires government permission, which is not easily granted, and most
people have access only to a Cuban intranet, a national e-mail system
with approved websites and journals. On the World Wide Web, Cubans
encounter filters and blocks on any information coming or going that
might be construed as unfriendly to the Cuban government.
Besides Fidel Castro, Cuba has about 300 bloggers, about 100 of them
unauthorized, including several who are highly critical of the
government. They have a terrible time communicating with the world and
have to resort to all sorts of tricks to circumvent government barriers,
including phoning the information to friends abroad for posting on
servers outside Cuba. The most famous blog is Yoani Sanchez's Generation
Y, which nets more than 1 million hits a month and is available just
about everywhere but in Cuba, which may explain why she hasn't been
muzzled; another reason may be that she is equally critical of the U.S.
and its trade embargo. (She was, however, beaten and her blogger husband
was attacked by a mob.) Sanchez helped Jose Luis Pardo and others
establish Voces Cubanas, an independent site with about 30 bloggers who
chronicle the trials, deprivations and beauty of Cuban daily life in
words and pictures.
Cuban law bans using the Internet to spread information that is against
what the government considers to be the social interest, norms of good
behavior, the integrity of the people or national security. This is in
line with other policies stifling free expression. This year, the
government announced the release of 52 political prisoners, but so far
only about half have been freed from jail and sent into exile. There's
no indication that the state's tolerance for dissent has increased, or
that those who express views contrary to the government's will escape
harassment and detention in the future. On the contrary, five dissidents
were taken into custody following a rare protest at the University of
Havana last month at which they shouted "Down with the Castros!"
Fidel Castro didn't comment on the ruckus. In fact, he held his own
rally at the university last week wearing his trademark army fatigues
for the first time in years. Funny, though, he didn't talk to the
students about Internet freedom and the wonders of the Web.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-fidel-20100904,0,4441605.story
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