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Cuba Jails US Worker Handing Out Laptops, Cellphones
eldavojohn writes "An American citizen working as a contractor for the United States Agency for International Development has been arrested for giving away laptops and cellphones in Cuba. The intent was to enable activists to connect with each other and spread information of what's happening inside Cuba. From the article: 'Cellphones and laptops are legal in Cuba, though they are new and coveted commodities in a country where the average worker's wage is $15 a month. The Cuban government granted ordinary citizens the right to buy cellphones just last year; they are used mostly for texting, because a 15-minute phone conversation would eat up a day's wages.' A Representative on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the arrest was 'no surprise' while a human rights watch group cited a report outlining the Cuban Criminal Code offense of 'dangerousness,' which is most likely the one for which this individual was detained. There is at present no way to contact the individual nor official word on why he was detained." The article quotes an actvist with Human Rights Watch who said that "any solution to the contractor's case would probably be political" and that "the Cuban government often provokes a negative reaction in the United States just as [the two] countries begin to move toward more dialogue."
I think you're missing the point. It's about laptops per se - it's encouraging dissent.
And what is YOUR point. Here in the U.S. we encourage freedom of speech. Even people giving death threats against sitting presidents (on either side) are at worst questioned - if they are even talked to at all!
Are you saying he was advocating violent overthrow of the sitting Cuban government, and providing arms? Now THAT might get you put in the hoosegow here. But AFIAK, we was handing out laptops! And cell phones! I don't think he was even advising them to drop them from a great height onto the heads of government officials, just to talk to other people or post thoughts on the internet... which you can do in the U.S. (even about Nazis, unlike Europe).
How you can equate Cuba to the U.S., it is totally unfathomable and frankly I think calls for a complete and total re-evaluation of any worldview that leads to that conclusion so readily in this case.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Would you rather be a random Chinese citizen or a random Cuban citizen?
Cuban. It's easier to float across the Straits of Florida than the Pacific Ocean.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
You actively don't watch movies that tackle issues you disagree with? That is a very very close minded attitude.
..and you, full of spite, sit and get your $10 worth of a movie that's making you rage? You must be an absolute barrel of laughs, mister. Fuck the hell off.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!