Cuban govt lies about internet access for citizens

[bitkahuna]

Internet for all?

MOA, Cuba - August 2 (Felipe D. Ramos Leiva, APLO / www.cubanet.org) - Recently, Cuban government officials assured the audience of the nightly TV political program Round Table that in Cuba, the Internet is open to everyone, so independent journalist Juan Carlos Garcell and myself tried to verify the statement.

At mid morning Monday, July 31, we went to the ETECSA (phone company) offices and applied to the clerk for a prepaid card to use the Internet at the phone company's cybercafe. The woman replied that the cards were only available in dollars, not in pesos. We agreed to pay in dollars, but another glitch developed; she told us the service is only available to foreigners.

The two computers in the cybercafe were being used by African students who have been in Cuba for years.

We asked the phone company's employee whether she knew that independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas has been on a hunger strike for months, demanding that Cubans not be forbidden free access to Internet.

She said that it isn't a matter of access being forbidden; rather what happens is that the service is limited to foreigners on account of the limited resources available.

http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/ago06/04e2.htm

[ebruce2]

Bit, this story reminds me of the tactics of none other than Mr Kim Jong-Il himself. Keep your people in the dark and isolated from the rest of the world, and you lessen the chances of revolution.

[bitkahuna]

Exactly. First rule for the totalitarian dictator - take over the media and all forms of communication.