Cuba Increases Internet Access While Censorship Continues

Cuba increased its connectivity to the internet by 10% in December, Ramon Linares, Cuban IT and Telecoms vice-minister, announced yesterday. Linares said that the 10% increase is due to an improved satellite connection, with a current exit speed of 209 megabytes and an entry of 379 megabytes. However, Linares reported that the planned optic-fibre cable between Venezuela and the communist island will not translate into broader usage in Cuba, Reuters reports. Linares specified that the Venezuela-Cuba optic-fibre cable will improve the quality of telecommunications, "but not necessarily their extension". Speaking to the regime-sponsored journal Rebel Youth, the vice-minister said that the island will continue to increase its telecoms services but will maintain "the strategy to privilege collective access". Meanwhile, independent bloggers critical of the regime continue to suffer censorship and harassment by government authorities.

Significance: The government of leftist Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, Cuba's main ally, has announced plans to develop an underwater fibre optic cable of 1,600 km in length between Venezuela and Cuba. The aim is to improve Cuba's telecommunications technology and strengthen the already well-established bilateral relations between the ideologically-akin countries. Venezuela, Cuba’s main economic ally together with China, aims in return to develop a strong regional agenda based on socialist co-operation. According to the Venezuelan government, the cable will start functioning in 2011 with a capacity of 640 gigabytes, multiplying by 3,000 the connection capacity of the island with the rest of the world. Cuba has had internet access provided via satellite since 1996, and argues that it is unable to connect to international networks due to the historic embargo imposed by the United States. That embargo prevents U.S. companies offering their services to the communist regime, which in turn forbids Cubans to have internet access from their homes. Access to the world wide web is restricted to government officials, universities, and other state-run institutions, with censorship systematically applied. The administration of U.S. president Barack Obama announced a relaxation of restrictions in the telecoms sector in September, allowing U.S. companies to open their services to the island. However, increasingly bitter bilateral relations may complicate this project in the future

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