Cuba USA

Cuba and the Internet Who is Blockading Whom?

by Atilio Boron

source Rebelion

The nervousness which has gripped the Latin American right after the announcement of the"normalization" of relations between the US and Cuba has sparked a series of demonstrationsthat astonish because of the impunity with which they distort reality.

An example is Andres Oppenheimer’s Tuesday, February 2 column in La Nacion whose lead says it all: "The key to freedom in Cuba is access to the Internet". The journalist, known for hisvisceral rejection of the whole work of the Cuban Revolution, wonders if "Cuba’s regime will accept US help to expand access to the Internet."

Shortly afterwards he recalled that in his speech on December 17, 2014, Obama said that "Washington will eliminate various regulations that prevent US companies from exportingsmartphones, Internet software and other telecommunications equipment; but judging from what I'm told by several visitors who just returned from the island, there are good reasons to beskeptical that the Cuban regime will allow it."

The punch line of his article is anthological: "Washington should focus on the Internet. And if Cuba does not want to talk about it, the US and Latin American countries should denounce the Cuban regime for what it is: a military dictatorship that has already run out of excuses to continue to banning Internet access in the island".

I prefer not to waste time in refuting the unprecedented characterization of Cuba as a militarydictatorship that in a test of Introduction to Political Science would deserve the immediateflunking of the student who dared to express such a notion (which is not the same as an idea,more respect for Hegel, please!). Oppenheimer is not one of those rabid fanatics who swarm in American television, serial violators of the most basic rules of journalism. But the nervousnessand despair that has gripped the increasingly small and lacking prestige of the anti-Castro groups in Miami must have infected him and driven him to write a note full of falsehoods. I will just mention three.

First, he cannot ignore that, because of the blockade, Cuba only entered partially and late into cyberspace. When the rapid expansion of broadband and Internet began, the White Housebrutally pressed those who offered these services to the island so they would interrupt them immediately. This order, of course, could not be disobeyed by the small countries of the Caribbean Basin. Therefore, until the arrival of the underwater cable from Venezuela, a little over a year ago, the Internet connection in Cuba was made only by satellite. Now there is thisphysical link, but unfortunately the bulk of the growing Cuban traffic must still navigate through slow and expensive satellite links, and with an absolutely insufficient bandwidth. These problems are not due to a decision of Havana but the stubbornness of Washington.

Second, before wondering if Havana would accept the help that Obama promised,Oppenheimer should investigate whether Washington will accept ending the information technology blockade against Cuba. His argument seems out of a children's song by Mary E.Walsh: "The Upside-Down Kingdom".

It was not Cuba who, at the advent of the communications revolution, decided to make computerhara-kiri. It was the Empire who, aware of the importance of these new technologies, extendedthe scope of its criminal blockade to include the Internet.

Anyone who has visited Cuba knows that you cannot access many websites or make use of the main instruments of navigation in cyberspace. If you try, almost invariably a fatal message will appear: "Error 403" reading something like "From the place where you are you cannot access this URL" or another more eloquent: "Accessing this page is forbidden for the country where you are". You cannot use Skype, Google Earth, or collaborative development platforms such asGoogle Code and Source Force, or freely download Android applications. And when you can,the low bandwidth makes it virtually impossible to work with a minimum of speed and efficiency.

Is all of this the Cuban government’s fault? In the middle of last year, Google CEO Eric Schmidtled a delegation which visited Cuba in response to accusations that the software giant was blocking access to their services. After confirming that several Google products were unavailable, Schmidt pointed obliquely to those responsible when he said that "US sanctions against Cuba defy reason."

Third, perhaps Oppenheimer is correct in his skepticism, but not because of Cuba but of the United States. How can we forget that, early in his first term, Obama had promised what heagain promised a little over a month ago: "to soften" some sanctions on IT companies doing business with Cuba? What happened then? Little or nothing. Hopefully now it will be different.

The Torricelli Act of 1992 had allowed the Internet connection via satellite with a decisivelimitation: that each provision be contracted with US companies or their subsidiaries only after approval from the Treasury Department. This imposed strict limitations and established specialsanctions –for example, fines of $50,000 for each violation– to those who facilitated, within oroutside, the United States, the Cubans' access to the network.

What Obama did, in March 2010, was to remove some of these sanctions; especially for companies that provide free e-mail applications, chat and the like. Nevertheless, in 2012, the Ericsson company branch in Panama had to pay a fine of nearly two million dollars to the United States Department of Commerce for violating communications equipment export restrictions toCuba. As always: I give you one, and take away two. Thus, unrestricted access to the networkcontinues in the shackles of the blockade.

The "cyber war" declared by Washington against Cuba, a country that remains shockinglyincluded in the list of "state sponsors of terrorism" continues its course. Will Obama fulfill his promise this time? Who is "prohibiting" access to the Internet in Cuba?

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