2/17/2015

In Cuba it´s regime policy to lie to the people

This material is from Translating Cuba: On Monday, January 19 Cubanet published a report about the detention of  Leinier Cruz Salfran on Saturday, January 17 by (Cuban) State Security agents. The reason? Leinier was gathering together a group of young people outside of the Hotel Marti, connecting through his laptop to the building’s WiFi and sharing the Internet with the others present who had also brought their portable computers to the location.

Meliá Hotel pool. Internet service in hotels may
be limited by government efforts to cut young
Cubans from accessing uncensored information.

My comment: visitors to Cuba should realize their ability to access the Internet may be restricted. The government makes efforts to stop young Cubans from accessing uncensored information. If you want to help you can bring a wifi repeater with a strong antenna, hook it up in your room to allow Internet use by those who gather near the hotel to see if they can connect. However, you should remember the regime is extremely repressive. You risk a long jail sentence if you try to help the Cuban people obtain information.

Article Follows:



We contacted the young man who agreed to grant us this interview:


Leinier Cruz, photo by Roberto Jesus Quinones

Q: Leinier, why did State Security detain you?

Because according to them I was committing a crime of Illicit Economic Activity.

Q: What did you do?

I shared the use of the Internet with other people through Hotel Marti’s wifi connection.

Q: How many users came to connect to the Internet at the same time because of your initiative?

There was no fixed number, there were days when more than fifty people connected on the ground floor of the Hotel Marti which was generally where I was connected.
..........

Q: How would you rate the internet connection opportunities that exist today in the city of Guantanamo?

There are very few internet access points, just two Internet rooms with 10 computers for a city of more than 150,000 residents. Furthermore, now the Hotel Marti denies Internet access to Cubans, who now cannot even pay a dollar to go up to the terrace which is where they have placed the wifi access.
.............
Q: Is there a law in Cuba that prohibits sharing the connection cost among several users?

I don’t know. During the interrogations they spoke to me of a crime called Violation of Contractual Services, something like that, in which the crime of violating a contract incurs a penalty of up to three years incarceration.

Q: Did they return your laptop, flash drives and camera that they took during the search of your home?

No, they still have not told me what they will do with them. They took them from me and have left me disarmed because I am a programmer.
...........

Q: Why do you think they authorities hinder cheap Internet access for young Cubans?

I believe that it is the policy of the State to maintain massive disinformation for the Cuban population, and that is demonstrated by the fact that this government has never permitted free access to information. Here we have no chance of getting computers, mobile devices, access to satellite TV, the Internet, there are no satellite phone connections or access to information technology. What they have done to me proves it.

I have only taken some sections, the missing sections are shown as ,,,,., but the full interview can be seen here:



Translating Cuba is really good, you can check its latest article  on the right side, where I list my favorite blogs.

3 comentarios:

  1. I am taking the liberty of replying to a comment you directed to me on the Devil's Excrement blog because for technical reasons that I don't understand I could not do it there.

    I'm more of an ex communist who is not a rabid "anti." Being a believer in God I have a fundamental difference with Marxism but I also have opinions in common with Marxism though personally I was not enough of a team player in those days so you mischaracterised me but didn't quite insult me.

    My country had food rationing during the Second World War as did muchof Europe until around 1960. The systems each had flaws and invited some corruption but by and large serve to make sure no one starved and in my country it made sure soldiers and war production workers ate. So rationing, like communism, should not be a dirty word.

    It looks like rationing worked pretty well in Cuba at least till 1990, correct? A bad point could be that it created disincentives to self reliance and development like oil has in Venezuela.

    I don't know if Venezuela would accept such a system. While I know more about Venezuela that. 99% of Estadounidenses I don't call myself an expert but my guess is ration books would be a non - starter.


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    1. Eugene, food rationing didn't work in Cuba. The rations weren't enough and everybody who could bought food in the black market. We ate all the birds, fished where we could, stole food from the government farms, AND watched as the communist party higher ups were delivered their own special supplies.

      Then we have to consider the reason why we went hungry. It was caused by the communists' sheer imbecility.

      Regarding Venezuela, I can only say I lived there for 10 years, and I had access to information I'm pretty sure you didn't have. I happened to see what went on inside pdvsa, saw the corruption, the Cuban communist infiltration, and the sheer criminality of Chavez and the thugs who surround him. You can't teach me anything about Venezuela or communism, and I sincerely doubt you will ever cure yourself from that delusion you have.

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