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Cuba Getting Internet Upstream Via Venezuela
An anonymous reader writes "Seems like Cuba is working around the US internet embargo by teaming up with Venezuela: A confidential contract released yesterday on Wikileaks reveals Cuba's plan to receive internet upstream via an undersea cable to Venezuela, thus circumventing the enduring embargo of the US, denying Cuba access to nearby American undersea cables and overcoming the current limits of satellite-only connectivity. The connection, to be delivered by CVG Telecom of Venezuela, is to be completed by 2010 and will provide data, video as well as voice service for both the public and governmental services."
And yeah, it is kind of idealist, but making information readily available (potentially) gives the Cuban public a powerful tool to guide their own country... I could see how that would benefit both America AND the Cuban people. "The pen is mightier than the sword"
What we've been doing so far has just been punishment for being non-democratic, but what could be far more useful and helpful would be only offering Cuba the tools of undoing their very own dictatorship, such as access to the Internet and other forms of communication. This is also fits nicely with Cuba's new found freedoms under Raul, including access to some new technologies (cell phones, in particular).
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
It was in response to the seizure of US companies in Cuba. The original plan was to lift the embargo when those companies were compensated for their losses. Eventually it was maintained due to human rights issues and Cuba's alliance with the Soviet Union. Carter lifted it during his Presidency, but Reagan reinstated it stating that no progress had been made and that Cuba had no intention of changing itself. It would have probably have been lifted during Clinton's second term if Cuba hadn't shot down the Hermanos al Rescate planes. After that incident, the Cuban vote in Florida solidified in support of the embargo.
Do you actually understand the reasoning that brought Castro to power in Cuba? I suggest you learn what it is Castro DIDN'T want in Cuba... HINT: Americans.
maybe for your country - but for the rest of us Cuba is a rather popular tourist destination with as many tourists leaving the UK for cuba as, say, dominican republic.
The westernised cuban resorts are fairly well organised and tourists can expect a little more of the "off the beaten trail" feel without the risk.
There's a bit of wisdom that's been passed around, all over Latin America, for the last thirty years: Visit Cuba before the North Americans can get back in...
Americans, not North Americans. Canadians and Mexicans have the freedom to visit Cuba.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
The people of Cuba already knew what a free Cuba was like or had first hand accountings from relatives. This is why there is/was a mass exodus when Castro allowed anyone who wanted to- to leave by the port of Mariel.
We have also been broadcasting radio and TV signals to Cuba since the late 50's
Oh really? Have you got anything to back that statement up?
You believe that doctors in countries with state-run medicine can say to patients and their families, "Look, this is getting expensive, and it looks like s/he is going to die in a few weeks anyway. Checkout is on down the hall on the left" ... etc.?
I can't imagine where you're getting your ideas from. Personal experience: my ex is a doctor from a country with "socialized medicine" ... from what I saw and heard during my time there (Germany), it doesn't work like that at all. End-of-life was one of the biggest issues she dealt with, because -get this- they saw patients through to the end. Preventative care and perhaps the much lower obesity rates probably have a little *something* to do with their lower per-capita medical costs..
O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
I'd still rather pay less for my medical insurance - Especially since the patents I'm paying for are being ignored on both my Canadian and Mexican borders.
Woah. We pay through the ass for pharmaceuticals in Canada. We don't even get a free ride on pharms or medical procedures developed here. It either comes out of our taxes or our wallets.
Meanwhile, at least 20% of our medical graduates take jobs in the US or abroad. And we're facing a health care crisis ourselves.
I know there are a lot of industrialized countries that do not enforce medical patents, but Canada isn't anywhere near that list.
War as we knew it was obsolete
Nothing could beat complete denial
- Emily Haines
If you can't understand that difference you'll have a big problem understanding Cuba.
Castro was fiercely nationalistic, not unlike a lot of US politicians, and had a lot against US influence on that basis. His opposition to the US and to Americans only strengthened as a result of the US response after he took power and started taking back what had been stolen from the Cuban people by Batista, a lot of which had been handed over to US companies.
If you are trying to imply the '54 election when he ran unopposed was free and fair, then the other reply you got comparing him to Mugabe was quite fitting.
> The groups that murdered their way into power hated the US with a passion
Ever wondered why? In both cases, the groups were fighting to overthrow dictatorships supported by the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista#The_Second_Coup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
I'm no fan of Khomeini or Castro, I certainly don't support their repressive governments, but the US-backed governments they overthrew weren't necessarily any better.
They had the luck to discover oil and the wisdom to carefully manage the revenues ... I heard Norwegian institutional funds are ones of the biggest investors in European stock markets such as Euronext Paris.
30% of income taxes(?), (almost?) free healthcare, no state budget deficit, effcient pensions funds and capitalism...I'm all for that form of communism any day.
I think Cuba had a massive dose of American "culture" in the '50's. It came in the form of a U.S. friendly, repressive dictator named Fulgencio Batista, the U.S. based Mafia that turned Havana in to the 1950's version of Las Vegas but worse, and large numbers of obnoxious Americans that flocked there to indulge all their vices, mainly gambling and prostitution. At the time Americans, being the puritanical prudes they tend to be, outlawed all these vices at home, so all their "weapons of cultural mass destruction" were focused like a laser beam on Cuba in the 50's. A lot of Cubans considered Castro and socialism an improvement at the time. Its not like Castro overthrew Batista single handed, he had a lot of support from the Cuban people.
Part of the problem with American cultural dissemination in the past is it was targeted at keeping America and American corporations on fat street so life was good in the U.S. In much of the rest of the world it was propping up brutal dictators as long as they were willing to be a bulwark against Socialism and Communism and were friendly to American multinationals which translated in to the American companies pillaging all the countries cheap labor and resources to fatten their bottom line while they left most of their host countries in abject poverty.
I certainly have no interest in living in Cuba. I hate governments who can't resist telling people how to live, or throwing their citizens in jail without cause, but that seems to happen in the U.S. now too. The U.S., especially under Bush has acquired some pretty scary Fascist tendencies and has been throwing people in secret prisons without trial and torturing them too.
If you can stay clear of the Cuban thought police I imagine life in Cuba isn't all that bad especially compared to what they had in the 50's. At least they do have really good health care and education for EVERYONE, not just the people rich enough to pay for it like the U.S. Its amazing they do as well as they do considering the strangling noose America's embargo has had around them for over 40 years. The U.S. kind of forces them in to a lot of their repression. They've have to be on constant guard against U.S. schemes to destabilize and overthrow their government for the last 40 plus years, which tends to lead to an excessive security apparatus, kind of like the one the U.S. created using 9/11 as an excuse.
I think my bottom line is both the U.S. and Cuba are deeply, deeply flawed so its a bit comical to watch them and the people in them try to contend one is god's gift and the other is Satan incarnate when they both suck about equally though in somewhat different ways.
@de_machina
But I agree - The embargo is idiotic.
The embargo has been condemned by the UN General Assembly for the last 15 years or so. It's not just the US conducting the embargo though. The US government has bullied international companies and banks to join in. Recently banks in the UK have told customers they will have to stop trading with Cuba or find another bank.
The embargo has nothing to do with Cuba not being a democracy of course. Even if Cuba was a democracy, it would no doubt be the "wrong" kind of democracy and would be subject to a US-backed coup as was the case in Venezuela in 2002 (although it failed). It's not just a case of economic embargoes either. The US waged a campaign of terror against Cuba known as Operation Mongoose. At one point a Cuban airliner was blown up, and it is believed to have been carried out by a CIA agent called Luis Posada Carriles. The US has been harbouring this man for some time and refuses to extradite him to Venezuela in case he is tortured (or at least that is the excuse). They must fear something worse than waterboarding since that apparently is ok now.
The people liked us shortly after the revolution and blue jeans and MTV could have really made for a good relationship
Well liking US culture is very different from liking the US government. This is why anti-American is such a stupid and propagandistic word. People who complain about US government actions are often called anti-American, which conjures up the notion that they hate US culture and American citizens in general. The US government wrecked the democracy the Iranians had in 1953, installed a dictator, then trained a brutal secret police called the SAVAK to keep him in power. The CIA-trained SAVAK tortured and murdered thousands.