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I am not really sure of the agenda behind this post, but just a reminder that there is a submarine cable (ALBA-1) that connects Cuba and Venezuela and serves as

I am not really sure of the agenda behind this post, but just a reminder that there is a submarine cable (ALBA-1) that connects Cuba and Venezuela and serves as a full time link and connects Cuba to the world and gives them FREE INTERNET through Venezuelan biggest ISP (Cantv). This free internet makes Venezuelans furious as our corrupt, dictatorship government rather give CUBA a big part of our own international connectivity that actually use that for our own connectivity/broadband. Note that we have one of the slowest internet connections in the world [1], this last 24 months, we have improved a lot (from rank 200+ to 139) due to some private ISPs finally allowed to purchase a bit more of bandwidth, but it’s still hoarded by our national ISP (gov controlled) and Cuba itself, there has been reports of the CUBA's power going as far as actually having managing positions on venezuelan national's ISP and helping Venezuela's gov on censuring our internet. [2] [3] I don’t want to get political here, but in before you start criticizing sanctions/blockade and come with sob stories, lets talk about what Cuba really is, a 60 years old dictatorship where human rights are violated everyday making every citizen life a living hell. tldr; Cuba gov controls all internet access to the island, and they get internet from Venezuela for free no matter what USA does, so they aren't really disconnected from the world because of sanctions/blockade. [1] https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/venezuela#fixed https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/venezuela#fixed [2] https://www.cubanet.org/tecnologia-2/asi-funciona-la-censura-de-internet-en-cuba-y-venezuela/ https://www.cubanet.org/tecnologia-2/asi-funciona-la-censura... [3] https://venezuelaaldia.com/2019/05/21/cantv-cubatel-costo-usd-14-611-616-cuba-controla-comunicaciones-venezolanas/ https://venezuelaaldia.com/2019/05/21/cantv-cubatel-costo-us...

Clewza313 5y ago
The Cuban government and intelligentsia are connected, but ordinary people are not. Until 2018, the only way for most Cubans to get online was via public wifi spots, and while there is now some 3G data connectivity, the pricing remains prohibitive: at last check 1 GB is about a week's salary.
huntertwo 5y ago
Also not trying to be political, I don’t believe the Cuban embargo/sanctions are due to the existence of a dictatorship. The US has happily done business with, propped up, and installed various dictatorships in the past and continues to do so as well. These dictatorships have performed atrocities similar to or worse than those that the Cuban government performs. Examples include Spain, Argentina, Chile, and perhaps Brazil in the second half of the 20th century. IMO, the US government is opposed to the proliferation of communism/socialism and for that reason maintains certain embargoes/sanctions. The current sanctions that I know of are against Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba, all openly communist dictatorships. To conclude, sob stories aside, the existence of a dictatorship in Cuba is not a motivator for the sanctions against Cuba.
- ncmncm 5y ago
  Then, of course, there is China, where practically everything you can see around you was imported from. So, communism is also not an explanation.
joecool1029 5y ago
>I am not really sure of the agenda behind this post Cuba, regardless of its government situation, should have multiple high speed links to the rest of the world. Assuming that you are posting from there, you would be in benefit of this. Having a single link makes it extremely vulnerable to outages caused by both technical and geopolitical issues. Filtering/control of their people's access is a real but separate issue.
- firekvz 5y ago
  Having 1 or 100 (they have 3) links, wont change anything The gov controls everything and will use that to manilulate information and more Problem is not amount of links, problem is their dictatorship gov.

Clewza313 5y ago

The Cuban government and intelligentsia are connected, but ordinary people are not. Until 2018, the only way for most Cubans to get online was via public wifi spots, and while there is now some 3G data connectivity, the pricing remains prohibitive: at last check 1 GB is about a week's salary.

huntertwo 5y ago

Also not trying to be political, I don’t believe the Cuban embargo/sanctions are due to the existence of a dictatorship. The US has happily done business with, propped up, and installed various dictatorships in the past and continues to do so as well. These dictatorships have performed atrocities similar to or worse than those that the Cuban government performs. Examples include Spain, Argentina, Chile, and perhaps Brazil in the second half of the 20th century. IMO, the US government is opposed to the proliferation of communism/socialism and for that reason maintains certain embargoes/sanctions. The current sanctions that I know of are against Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba, all openly communist dictatorships. To conclude, sob stories aside, the existence of a dictatorship in Cuba is not a motivator for the sanctions against Cuba.

ncmncm 5y ago
Then, of course, there is China, where practically everything you can see around you was imported from. So, communism is also not an explanation.

joecool1029 5y ago

>I am not really sure of the agenda behind this post Cuba, regardless of its government situation, should have multiple high speed links to the rest of the world. Assuming that you are posting from there, you would be in benefit of this. Having a single link makes it extremely vulnerable to outages caused by both technical and geopolitical issues. Filtering/control of their people's access is a real but separate issue.

firekvz 5y ago
Having 1 or 100 (they have 3) links, wont change anything The gov controls everything and will use that to manilulate information and more Problem is not amount of links, problem is their dictatorship gov.