Eliécer Avila Announces Campaign for Internet in Cuba
HAVANA TIMES — Cuban dissident Eliécer Avila has summoned from his Facebook page for a campaign to defend the right of Cubans to the Internet, reports Diario de Cuba.
World Internet Day on May 17, “is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that those of us who want immediate full Internet access in our country are the majority,” said Avila.
Currently touring Europe, Avila asked each person, from their creativity, to contribute ‘a painting, an article, an opinion, a yes for internet “, and called for contacting personalities from the arts, politics and academia, and organizing conferences and workshops.
It is still unknown who make up Eliecer’s organization ‘Somos +’, and how it intends to implement this new idea, if the vast majority of the population on the island can not receive its message.
Yeah just checked in Facebook. A pity, seems to sell himself also to the right wingers. I´m disappointed. seems to be a good business today, becoming a dissident.. fast way to make money.
La Cubana de Matanza tiene toda razon. Iva habla la propaganda usual. No recuerde, que Raul dijo, que el acceso al internet sea deseable para todos en Cuba, entonces habra puntos sociales donde se puede conectar.Espero que emoiecen pronto , eso si.
Nothing against fullaccess to the internet. But first you have to set up the infrastructure. And .- who is gonna pay it?
Es una pena que La cubana de Matanzas no aproveche la capacidad de ser bilingue, para informarse y no conformarse.
Admirable la lucha de Eliecer y la del resto de los opositores. No puede haber cambios cuando hay tanta gente analfabeta, que le enseñaron a ser parte de una manada, en lugar de crecer como individuo. El internet no es un privilegio, es un derecho que les roban para que no lleguen a la informacion real. Esa que a la matancera le hace falta para que no esgrima mas los indices inflados que dio y mucho menos para que culpe al embargo de la falta de internet y los otros desmadres.
I AM SORRY MY HERMANA This is not a right its a privilege
I travel back and forth monthly and always get online The issue is not lack of internet but rather resources
Now many will deny this but many such as myself know the truth
We have the highest literacy rate in the Caribbean and the lowest infant mortality
but when it comes to telecommunications, Cuba remains stuck in the Dark Ages. Fewer than 600,000 access lines serve the island’s 11.6 million inhabitants, and a good percentage of its basic telecom infrastructure dates from the 1930s and 1940s. WHY IS THIS? its the embargo!
Suffice that the small number of Cubans who currently enjoy internet access must go online via dial-up networks on their phone lines, relying on a technology that has been obsolete for more than a decade. Tourist hotels and a few government workplaces have Wi-Fi or DSL hookups, but everyone else is stuck with transmission rates that hover around 5-7 kilo per second.
Fewer than 20 percent of Cubans currently have access to the world wide web, young Cubans often cite their inability to get online and communicate with friends abroad as a deep frustration, and an added incentive to emigrate. Now if this is the reason for emigrating I question more than that?
Cuban gov say their priority will be to boost internet availability at schools, hospitals and other government institutions, in contrast to the at-home on-demand individual web access available in the capitalist world. As Castro critics point out, such “social” access can also conveniently facilitate censorship and web monitoring by the state.
Still, having waited this long to upgrade its communication networks, Cuba does have one advantage: It can simply leap over previous generations of technology and go straight into the world of mobile web technology.
I encourage all young Cubans to seek knowledge and learn to help all Cubans get online!