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Cuba's Pending Tech Revolution
dcblogs writes The White House order last week lifting economic sanctions against Cuba specifically singles out technology, from telecommunication networks to consumer tech. There's much potential and many obstacles. Cuba has an educated population craving technology, but it has little income for new tech. The Cuban government wants to trade with the U.S., but is paranoid about the outside world and has limited Internet access to 5% to 10% of the population, at best. "The government has been very reluctant to have open Internet access," said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. But "there is real hunger for technology," and with the easing of the embargo, the government "will be facing new pressures," he said. The country needs a complete technology upgrade, including to its electric grid, and the money to finance these improvements. "Markets like Cuba, which will require a wholesale construction of new infrastructure, don't come along often, if ever," said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, a tech industry trade group. "The flood of companies lining up to get in should be quite substantial," he said. Cuba has a population of about 11 million, about the same size as the Dominican Republic, which spends about $1 billion annually on technology and related services, according to IDC. But capital spending today on IT in Cuba may be no more than $200 million annually.
Didn't think so. That means the sanctions are still in effect...
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Now that both tobacco and sugar are out of style, the country has problems.
That's their only hope. They can't pay for tech with sugar and tobacco.
Okay, okay, not "dump", but we all know there's a lot of old hardware here which would be genuinely useful someplace like Cuba, where they're not yet jaded.
The question is, how will they have a tech revolution without an open internet?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I think they probably want decent toothpaste more than the latest iThingie. They love getting toothpaste as tips.
If you call the Cuban governement paranoid, you need a new word for the american governement.
Paai
I don't understand why any company would line up to put their assets in Cuba where the Castro brothers will seize them like they did in 1960 to the tune of a billion dollars before the US put the embargo in place to stop it...
Think the Cuban scene in "The Godfather" but with people watching YouTube videos of Taylor Swift as they ride around in their vintage cars.
If they show Cubans what capitalism has done, they might want to stay their current course.
Good point: I don't think I've visited any websites that are located on servers in Cuba. It will be interesting to see if the internet and other technical infrastructure/services (TV, Radio, Cell phone networks) will grow in the next few years. Slightly off topic: I wonder if tourists will flock to Cuba from planes or cruise ships too. I would comment more, but I don't want to start a big political debate.
Not very nice people. I guess they're so used to screwing each other over for the limited resources they have, it's second nature to them to screw first or be screwed.
They're also very emotional, be prepared to deal with men more emotional than western women.
Cuba is NOT about to make any big changes. At least not unless the man who has been busy trying to destroy this country by Executive Action decides to prop up the Communist Government at our expense. The idea that Cuba has been suffering from an isolationist policy imposed by the United States is bogus. We were (somewhat) cut off from Cuba by our government, but we are only one country. Canada and most of the rest of the world has still been trading with them. Sure, Cubans drive around old American cars from the 50's, but they keep them running and keep fueling them with imported gasoline. Other countries would be glad to sell them newer cars, it is just that when you have a communist mindset keeping the economy depressed, no one has the money to buy new modern expensive cars.
Sure, they might sell Americans some cigars, although there has been a supply of them coming in through Canada already. They will not be selling us sugar, but not because of any real barrier. Rather because of a completely artificial barrier, Cubans who moved to Florida when Castro took power have gotten laws in place that impose such high tariffs on imported sugar that we can't import it, and we have higher prices on Sugar than the rest of the world, with all of that money going into the pockets of a few politically powerful Cubans in America who grow sugar and trickling down to the politicians they buy to keep the system in place.
Cuba is going to see a little bump in tourism, at least while the novelty is still there, but it will not be that much or make a big impact, they already have tourism from the rest of the world and from Americans going there through Canada who show their American passports and ask that they not be stamped to avoid problems back home. We will still over pay for sugar compared to the rest of the world and have tariffs that keep us from importing it from Cuba.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Stories like this really make me wish I had the money to invest in... something. Just, some company out there that's poised to make the next cheap electronic widget that Cubans could buy and use. Doesn't matter what it is or does, as long as it's not harmful and it's something they want to buy a lot of.
Car collectors dribbling all over themselves, at the chance to get their hands on some vintage automobiles from the 50's through early 60's. From what I have read, the Cuban's have become pretty creative at making parts from scratch, for cars they cannot get parts for. I'm sure some of them will try to find their way over here, as vintage autobody/mechanics, since if they lifted the hood on a modern car, it would be like having the Wright Brothers, looking at a jet engine of today.
I have some "old" computers that really aren't that old and are in fabulous condition. Is there an organization I can contact to send it to Cuba so that it ends up in the hands of people who would make good use of it (instead of one of those scams that makes it end up in a dump in China)?
For that matter, I have other things like old clothes destined for the garage sale I could send there too. Seriously. I would feel good about sending clothes that no longer fit me (I lost weight) to people who would benefit.
Previously, one could have said that Cuba's tech revolution was stifled *pending* the lifting of sanctions, but now that that obstacle has been removed, the author means to say the revolution is now impending!
Two letters; big difference.
Dear Sir/Madam
This letter is not intended to to cause any embarrassment but just to contact your esteem self-following the knowledge of your high repute and trustworthiness.
I am Huevo Ranchero,the son of the late Cuban Rum Minister who died on the 8th of June 1998.If you are conversant with world news,you would understand better,while I got your contacts through my personal research.
You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the recovery of various huge sums of money deposited by my late father in different Banks and security firms abroad.
I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your Bank account for safekeeping. This arrangement is known to you and my junior brother (Abbas) only. So I will deal directly with you.I am proposing a 20% share of the fund to you for your kind assistance.I shall provide for you all the documents of the fund deposit with the security firm, and raise a power of attorney to enable you claim and receive this fund into your bank account.
etc...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Otherwise your population will be enslaved like us.
Maybe you'd like to move somewhere else, Mr Big Mouth? Don't let us get in your way.
The entire country of Macedonia was connected in less than a year for about 2% of that $200,000,000. Through in open source cell phone infrastructure and Cuba could be pretty much fully connected quickly and cheaply - depending on what they are willing to accept for infrastructure.
http://solutionscenter.nethope.org/case_studies/view/macedonia-connects
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/diy-cellular-phone-networks-mexico/
Otherwise your population will be enslaved like us.
As if they weren't enslaved already...
The good news is, they're all Fortran programmers.
The reason Cuba doesn't have modern stuff, is because it doesn't have the money. I'm sure Cuba could have bought networking gear and computers from Chinese companies. Hell, it could buy CNG cars from Iran.
Tech boom won't happen.
They want companies to go there and open factories and manufactures, won't happen. Because if it did, other dumb countries would look at it and think "well if Cuba did it, so can we!" and raise the import tax to the extreme in order to force manufacturers to open up shop there as well... in the end, what will happen is exactly what already did with Cuba and Nintendo, companies PULLING OUT of the entire country because it's just not viable.
The U.S. may have had an embargo with Cuba, the rest of the world did not. Consider just Canada alone, from which Cuba could have had any technology they wished.
So what do people imagine will change with the U.S. embargo lifted? Change has to come from Cuban leadership, if at all..
What is very telling is that the cuban community in Florida is really, really angry we are lifting the embargo - because all it does is empower the people that made Cuba what it is today.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The U.S. may have had an embargo with Cuba, the rest of the world did not. Consider just Canada alone, from which Cuba could have had any technology they wished.
So what do people imagine will change with the U.S. embargo lifted? Change has to come from Cuban leadership, if at all..
What is very telling is that the cuban community in Florida is really, really angry we are lifting the embargo - because all it does is empower the people that made Cuba what it is today.
The Miami Cubans are hypocrites and should be returned by the US government to the Cuban government immediately. But the politicians continue to placate the Miami Cuban lobbyists as they suckle at the government teat.
this may mean the Americanization of Cuba, it's people, society, unique culture, and the inevitable absorption of its economy by U.S interests.
Maybe some nice multinationals might come in and improve life for all those poor Cubans.
Bring them into the new millennium of corporate servitude.
Go well
I believe Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Mao, and Pol Pot are at the top of the leaderboard for killing the human race.
The U.S. may have had an embargo with Cuba, the rest of the world did not. Consider just Canada alone, from which Cuba could have had any technology they wished.
Any Canadian-produced tech, yes. Unfortunately, there's no CanuckIntel, and American goods can only be sold or resold to friendly countries. If your company is caught violating the contract you're fucked, and any large sale will be found out.
Furthermore, ships that stop in Cuban ports cannot stop in US ports for a certain amount of time. That means delivery prices go way up and they have fewer trading partners available.
That isn't to say Cuba doesn't have computers and Windows. They do, but they must jump through hoops to get them.
Given they haven't gotten it, I suspect it's more complex than that! Part of it may be that companies that operate in violation of U.S. embargoes cannot do business in the U.S., thus making Cuba not worth their attention might be part of it.
Indeed, when dealing with a regime on the wrong side of an embargo or blockade, it's always the one at the bottom of the power slope that is responsible, right?
They're angry because their property was seized - but their kids don't generally care. On the other hand, the Cuban government released a bunch of political prisoners in the past week or two, which at least suggests that Raul and the party are at least cognizant of the changes coming down the pipe.
Canadian companies that do business with Cuba would be punished by the Helms-Burton Act.
Imagine you're a telecom. Which business would you rather have, the USA, or Cuba?
Homeopathy won't work for your mental illness... Try bloodletting!
Couldn't they just buy it direct from the Chinks?
Maybe RMS could be sent there to head their tech revolution. Give Cubans Lemote computers loaded w/ GNewSense and all GNU applications, and have them use those for all their computing needs. In fact, create a Libre Linux derivative of GNewSense just for Cuba.
Oh, and maybe start them off directly on IPv6, w/o even touching IPv4. The sanctions regime will then work, since the rest of the world is still mostly on IPv4, while Cuba can be on an IPv6-only network. That way, they won't be able to communicate w/ the outside world. Heck, it's a model that even the North Koreans could have used - they just need to patch Red Star Linux accordingly.
Why is it that journalists don't feel the need to check facts when they write about Cuba? Nearly everything in the article is quite demonstrably wrong. Too many utterly ridiculous ideas that simply don't apply to Cuba to debunk every one.
The only way Cuba is going to have a tech revolution is if somehow their incomes multiply by a factor of 100 sometime soon. I suppose that *could* happen if Raul dies and their government becomes pro-capitalist. That will be huge news if it ever happens, but the end of the US embargo just means lots of US tourists. It won't change anything else. It will just piss off the Canadians who are used to having the place practically to themselves.
Just ending the US embargo isn't going to do shit. The US isn't the only country in the world with tech. Cuba has been importing technology from China (you know that place where everything is actually made) for decades. This idea that Cuba needs US goods is utter bullshit. They don't. Castro liked to blame the US embargo for his total lack of understanding of economics, but Cuban poverty has nothing to do with the stupid useless and senseless "embargo". Does the US even still make anything?
Also Cubans are not any more educated than the people in other Latin American nations. If anything their education is of less value because they are so much more isolated from the rest of the world. When the rest of the world figures out something new it could be decades before that information trickles into Cuba.
Cuba won't represent any sort of business opportunity until the government there stops actively preventing people from making money. The government seems highly offended by the idea of anyone making more than around a dollar a day which is what doctors tend to make there. Most people make about half that much. They can barely afford to buy food let alone whatever high tech gadget some ignorant American who's never spent any time there thinks they need/want.
Since no one likes citing sources when talking about Cuba let me cite mine: I lived there for more than a year. If there is a country in the world that has more misinformation about it just accepted as truth by the rest of the world I don't know what it might be. The Cuban government propaganda arm does their job well. If only Soviet proganda workers had such an easy time. The rest of the world just accepts whatever the Cuban government tells them because of course the government has no reason to lie or exaggerate, right?
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Always makes me laugh whenever I read an article about US-Cuba relations, more specifically how Americans think Cubans are...
Been to Cuba at least 8 times now? Possibly more, don't recall.
I can assure you Cubans have Internet access, laptops, iPads and iPhones.....
Obviously this is more of a city and tourist area thing. The poorer farmers and villagers on the other hand might not have access to such luxuries.....However generally speaking they all seem to be familiar with the devices, their capabilities and their ability to use them. They are as present as any other developing nation I have visited. Other than their inability to buy original OEM parts for their aging fleet of American produced cars, you would not have known there was an embargo from the US for the past 50-60 years.
The only thing the embargo seems to have accomplished is limit the ability of US based corporations to exploit Cubans. Canada, Spain and Russia where more than happy to jump in and fill that gap....
Cuba has been trading with every other country except us and none of this has happened. The U.S. is SO FULL OF ITSELF thinking it's going to make a difference....
Murphy was an optimist
The worst thing for Cuba is to deal with USA in anyway will ruin their country
Try C#, that seems to be their favorite language of instruction nowdays. And Cubans don't need H-1Bs to work in the US.