Website Makes Life Easier for Cubans

Alfredo Fernandez 

The website revolico.com has helped facilitate daily life for many Cubans.  One needs only connect to this eclectic online center of classified ads to obtain anything as varied as computer accessories, an inter-provincial house swap or a gallon of paint that’s cheaper than what’s sold in hard currency stores.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have Internet service.  You know that the website exists and functions, so if you’re interested in buying or selling a product you can make use of some friend’s access to the network to place an ad for whatever – be it that printer you desperately need or new clothes brought from Ecuador.  Likewise, a buyer in a hurry to get a hold of two sacks of white cement can put their announcement on the page.

People are smart, and they know how to self-organize through “Revolico” for more than meets the eye.  That’s why they access that “public marketplace” where products are sold without having to take off running because the police are coming, and without having to pay those onerous taxes that the government always slaps on those who work for themselves.

Revolico.com has come to stay – a site set up owing to the eternal shortages faced by those of us here on the island.

Cubans can barely access the Internet, yet the success of Revolico has been resounding.  The Internet, with its strange market on the Web, provides daily articles urgently needed by many people across the country.

– No “Crazy Glue” at the store?  Then look for it at Revolico.

– Need some solder for welding?  You’d better log on to Revolico.

– Is printing your thesis giving you the blues?  Find someone to do it through Revolico.

– Cant’ find a buyer for your laptop?  Put an ad in Revolico.

In their need, both the person selling and the one trying to buy simply leave a phone number where they can be reached.  Never before has there been a better way to expedite business, even now with our island’s leaders apparently not being particularly fond of the Internet.

However, if we Cubans are showing ourselves to be increasingly admiring of this indispensable service, can we continue without the Internet?  How much longer will we be able to live on the margin of the future?  For whom is it so difficult to understand that using the Web in all aspects of life isn’t going to wait anymore?