April 18, 2000
Last week, in Havana, Cuba, representatives of more than 100 developing nations came together for the Group of 77 summit to demand fairer treatment from the rich nations, which dominate the international financial system. One of the complaints put forth by Cuba and other countries concerned the gap in Internet access between rich and poor nations. But, as V-O-A's Greg Flakus reports from Havana, Internet access in Cuba is limited by government restrictions.
In the international Press Center at the Havana Convention Hall last week, there were more than 100 computers connected to the Internet available to reporters. There were also dozens of Cuban assistants on hand to keep the computers working and to help reporters. But at almost every moment, the assistants themselves were at the computers, surfing the net - going from one web site to another. Among the most popular sites were those having to do with pop music groups, movie stars and news.
One of the favorite news sites appeared to be "El Nuevo Herald," the Spanish-language edition of the Miami Herald, a newspaper regarded by the Cuban government as an organ of the anti-communist Cuban exile community. In a country where the news media are controlled by the government, many people are curious about what is being reported and said elsewhere. Marisa, one of the convention hall computer assistants, enjoys using the Internet to communicate with people in other countries.
She says she has an electronic mail account and can exchange messages with people outside Cuba, to learn more about them and to tell them about her life. She says she also likes to keep informed by checking news sites on the Internet. One reason Cubans at the convention center were so attracted to the computers with Internet access is that such opportunities are rare in this communist country.
The government of President Fidel Castro maintains strict control on who has access to computers and to the net. Computers are also expensive and must be purchased in U-S dollars. Most Cubans cannot afford such a luxury. Jorge, who works for an international commercial firm here in Havana, has used a computer at work to chat with people in other parts of the world in real time.
He says through such an Internet chat he was able to make indirect contact with some relatives who now live outside Cuba. Jorge says most Cubans, if they have access at all to the Internet, have it at their workplace. He says the best place to find a connection to the web is at an office where there is a computer with access.
He says lately the government has also established computers with Internet access in universities. In order to prevent students from seeking out what the government calls "counter-revolutionary" material, the universities have monitors who are supposed to keep close watch on each computer user. What happens in many cases, however, is that students bribe the monitor so that they can surf without restrictions.
Some Cuban officials realize that it will be difficult to particpate in the information economy that is driving much of the growth in capitalist nations if Cuba controls Internet access too strictly. So, longtime observers here say there are signs that restrictions may be loosened in the future, at least for some Cubans. But defenders of the Cuban system say the restrictions on free expression, the news media, and the Internet are made necessary by U-S economic pressure on the island nation.
Carlos Mendes Tovar is a Venezuelan who has studied the Cuban system since the 1960's. He says you cannot speak of Cuba as a normal country. He says it is the victim of an economic war waged by the United States through its nearly 40-year-long embargo and its attempts to prevent other nations from trading with Cuba. He says that while the high cost of computers may limit individual access to the Internet in Cuba, the government has made it possible for many people to at least sample it by setting up computers with Internet access in local community halls, known as "houses of culture," and in some schools and universities.
But people who favor any kind of political change in Cuba - or who attempt to operate as independent journalists or human rights activists - find it almost impossible to access the Internet. Political dissidents say the only time they have ever seen the Internet was during a brief visit to a foreign embassy. Some independent journalists who send their stories to people operating Cuban news web sites in other nations say they have never seen what these sites look like. Access to the Internet is likely to increase here in Cuba in the years ahead, but there is no sign that government control of this and other media will end any time soon.
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Reprinted from Voice of America