Eric Schmidt and Entourage Pay a Call On Cuba

VentureBeat reports that the unofficial Google ambassador to the world has made another significant visit to a place where Internet access is either forbidden or impractical for most of the citizenry; hopefully it heralds change on that front. Continuing his tour of countries with authoritarian governments and less-than-favorable Internet access, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt made a secret visit to Cuba yesterday. The U.S. government has forbidden its citizens from traveling to Cuba or spending any money within the country since cold war tensions in the 1960s. Even though the cold war is over, the ban remains in effect, which is why Schmidt’s visit is significant. Unofficially (meaning not on behalf of his company), the powerful Googler has also made controversial visits to North Korea and Myanmar to promote Internet freedom, and has previously spoken out against online censorship happening in both China and India. Schmidt, says the article, "was joined by a crew of former Google employees as well as author Jared Cohen."

Comments

Re:I live in Canada

[cold fjord]

I live in Canada . . . We go there for vacation whenever the fuck we want. Americans need to get fucking clue and get over themselves. It's just fucking Cuba. No big deal. America has relations with China, and they've executed WAY more political prisoners than Cuba has, and you;re probably reading this on a Chinese built computer. So bag the anti-communist BS and grow up.

By your words and tone I take it you're a fan? What's not to like about Cuba, eh?

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Re:I live in Canada

[cold fjord]

In Cuba the communist gangsters are in control of the government, and many Cubans do live in poverty. I wouldn't make too many bets about the literacy rate either. People still try to flee Cuba by the thousands each year, risking death or prison. I expect you can't figure out why.