Cyber Cuba News
Archive: 2001-2015

With the notable exception of Miguel Díaz-Canel ("MDC"), the first vice president of Cuba and an electronics engineer by training, many in the leadership in Cuba are said not to be knowledgeable about modern computer and communications technology, leading to suboptimal deployment decisions. Cuba has of course also been hampered by the embargo's relentless hold resulting in very small sized pipes going into Cuba, something the manufactured American consensus blames on the victim. The largely white exilia, especially those in the US, are running full speed ahead with the use of computer and communications technology, introducing another game changer, potentially to the disadvantage of AfroCubans. But these technologies also present many opportunities for everyone.

Ministro Comunicacion ratifica acceso a Internet  12/28/2015 TV Santiago 

Nuevo espacio público para el acceso al servicio de conexión wifi  12/22/2015 TV Santiago: "La velocidad de conexión en los espacios públicos es de un megabyte por usuario y pueden permanecer conectados entre cincuenta y cien clientes, simultáneamente, según las capacidades de las áreas."

Startup Weekend Havana, oportunidad para el emprendimiento en Cuba  11/10/2015 On Cuba: "Al primer Startup Weekend Havana llegaron jóvenes emprendedores de La Habana, algunos desarrolladores, especialistas en marketing, programadores, diseñadores, todos con la idea de aportar y vivir un momento único y naciente en Cuba. Desde el viernes en la tarde el Hotel Panorama fue espacio de consultas, de intercambio y sala de trabajo de los ocho equipos seleccionados para presentar un proyecto final de startups."

Startup Weekend Havana, opportunity for entrepreneurship in Cuba  11/9/2015 On Cuba: "At the first Startup Weekend Havana came young entrepreneurs from Havana, some developers, marketing specialists, programmers, designers, all with the idea of ??contributing and living a unique and nascent moment in Cuba. From Friday afternoon the Panorama Hotel was a space of consultation, exchange and work room of the eight teams selected to present a final project of startups."

Cuban infrastructure investment -- China won the first round  9/28/2015 The Internet in Cuba: "China played a major role in the financing and construction of the ALBA-1 undersea cable, which connects Cuba to Venezuela and Jamaica. It was reported that China lent Venezuela $70 million to finance the cable, which was installed by a joint venture made up of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell and Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe (TGC) -- TGC is a joint venture between Telecom Venezuela (60%) and Cuban Transbit SA (40%), both state-owned companies. "

Prospects for the Cuban Internet After the Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations  9/10/2015 Council on Foreign Relations: "Disagreements about whether U.S. engagement with Cuba will foster Internet freedom mirror the larger debate pitting those who want to keep Cuba under political and economic pressure and those who believe this strategy has failed."

Browsing the Web from Cuba's Public Hotspots  9/7/2015 Global Voices: "And the lack of full Internet access is only part of the problem. Prices are high. The locations of hotspots give people little choice but to sit on steps, curbs, and sidewalks while using the Web, making an unfavorable atmosphere for browsing. And there is no coherent strategy for teaching everyone how to use the Internet, beyond what is offered for university students and those working in key sectors of scientific development in the country. These factors have left most Cuban Internet users logging on for little more than utilitarian purposes."

In a nation with nearly no Internet access, a little bit gets a lot of hype.  9/4/2015 The Internet in Cuba: "In mid June, Cuba announced a plan to provide public access at 35 WiFi hotspots. As we noted, 35 WiFi hotspots is a drop in the bucket for a nation with over 11 million people, yet they have received a lot of press coverage."

The Many Unsolved Problems of Cuba’s Wi-Fi Hot Zones  9/2/2015 Havana Times: "Around the time Wi-Fi services became available in Cuba, a friend brought several newspapers from Ecuador. One of them had a piece on the free Wi-Fi services offered in school buses. Other friends who live in Venezuela tell me there are places (such as Bolivar Square, Diego Ibarra Square and the Sabana Grande Boulevard) where people can access such services without paying a cent. In nearly all countries, there are places with free Wi-Fi: parks, cafes, bus terminals, hospitals, airports, hotels, libraries, universities and others. We, however, have to pay for it. Ok, we’ll pay for it, but, to set the rates, they should at least bear people’s salaries in mind. Let’s overlook the fact we’re all paid in Cuban pesos and the service is charged in hard currency (Cuban Convertible Pesos, CUC). If the average worker earns 18 CUC a month at the current exchange rate, it is more than a huge sacrifice to destine over 10 % of his/her salary to connect to the Internet for merely one hour."

Connectify Gives Away PRO Features in Cuba as Public Wi-Fi Rolls Out  8/25/2015 Connectify: "Just a few days ago, the Boston Globe and Washington Post reported that Connectify Hotspot was being used by savvy Cubans to help share Wi-Fi with their fellow countrymen, as the government begins to roll out public hotspots around the country. We couldn’t have been more excited to hear about our little software router doing its part to help a country get online for the first time. So, starting today, we’ve decided to unlock Unlimited Hotspot Uptime (PRO feature), free for every resident of Cuba for the next 3 months!"

Cuba is using WiFi for short run portable connectivity  8/11/2015 The Internet in Cuba: "The fact that sales of VoIP and IMS equipment to "cell phone" operators are growing rapidly foreshadows the increased substitution of "data" for "voice" suggests that Cuba may forget about circuit-switched calling going forward."

La vulnerabilidad de los dispositivos móviles ante los 'hackers'  8/8/2015 Granma 

Wi-Fi technology with big acceptance in Camagüey  7/30/2015 Adelante: "The opening of two points for Internet navigation by means of Wi-Fi in this city, and the reduction of the quota per hour of 4.50 cuc to 2.00 cuc, has had big success among the Camagüeyans."

Open Technology Exchange in Havana, Cuba – Spring, 2016  7/23/2015 Landau Travel: "Landau Travel, in collaboration with the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education, is hosting this first annual Open Technology for Life (OT4Life) summit to cultivate long-term relationships between innovators in the United States and leading Cuban experts. Over the course of one week, “Makers” from both nations will exchange ideas, identify challenges and opportunities, and forge connections for the future. Cuba is a world leader in healthcare, education, and sustainability, despite the lack of global connectivity and access to modern technology. As foreign, tech-centric industries engage with Cuban society for the first time, OT4Life provides a platform to learn from Cuba’s successes and collaboratively explore the thoughtful, people-centered implementation of technology."

No Internet? No Problem. Inside Cuba's Tech Revolution  7/1/2015 Forbes: "Robin Pedraja, a lanky 28-year-old former design student from Havana, walked into the Cuban government's office of periodicals and publications early last year seeking approval for a dream: starting an online magazine about Cuba's urban youth culture. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans in recent years have been able to obtain licenses for small businesses, albeit only in a limited set of service categories such as restaurants, hair salons and translation. Media remains under strict government control. An online magazine? Pedraja was laughed off even before he could finish his pitch. He decided to publish anyway, without identifying the magazine's creators. The first issue of Vistar came out last March."

Cuba’s Web Entrepreneurs Search for U.S. Clients, and Reliable Wi-Fi  6/10/2015 NYT: "And ever since the United States in February authorized Americans to import goods and services from Cuban entrepreneurs for the first time in half a century, they have their eyes on America as well."

Cuba Likely Focus of US Firm’s 7-Figure Anti-Censorship Contract  6/7/2015 Havana Times: "BBG’s contract records available online do not mention Cuba or disclose what countries the agency is targeting. However, Cuba has been a focus of the agency’s Internet Anti-Censorship Division, or IAC. A 2013 BBG fact sheet on Internet censorship says the agency has provided Ultrareach’s “anti-censorship, pro-privacy software to users worldwide who are subject to foreign government sponsored Internet censorship.”"

Why Do These Two Senators Want To Help The Cuban Government Restrict Telecom Access?  5/20/2015 #CubaNow: "Bob Menendez similarly defended ZunZuneo for helping a Cuban people “severely limited in their ability to communicate among themselves, much less with the outside world.” But fast-forward to Wednesday and surprisingly enough those same two senators find breaking the “information blockade” to be a naïve endeavor at best and a concession to the Castros at worst. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the new U.S. policy, Menendez and Rubio decided to forego ideas on how to expand Cubans’ access to information in favor of the same canned attacks they’ve been making for months."

Overview - Setting up a Raspberry Pi as a WiFi access point  5/4/2015 Ada Fruit: used in Cuba - "Would you like to use your Pi as a WiFi router? Or maybe have it as a special filtering access point? Setting up a Pi as an access point (AP) is a bit more advanced than using it as a client, but its still only a half hour of typing to configure. If you want to, this tutorial will make it so the Pi broadcasts a WiFi service and then routes internet traffic to an Ethernet cable. Since its all Linux you can go in and update or configure it however you like."

What Does Airbnb's Cuba Launch Mean for US Citizens and Cuban Homeowners?  4/8/2015 Global Voices: "Nonetheless, unlike streaming video provider Netflix, which requires a real-time connection to use the service, homeowners would be able to use alternatives such as hiring a third party to review reservations and keep rent calendars up to date."

Afrolatin@crowd: Un taller para ennegrecer la Wikipedia  4/1/2015 Negra Cubana: "The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Proyecto Afrolatin@, Garífuna Nation y AfroCROWD presentan el taller AFROLATIN@CROWD que tendrá lugar el próximo 12 de abril de 2015. Afro Cultura Libre Crowdsourcing Wikimedia (AfroCROWD) es una nueva iniciativa que busca aumentar el número de personas de ascendencia africana que participan activamente en Wikimedia y en los movimientos de información, cultura y software de acceso abierto."

Cuba’s Tech Start-up Sector: ‘People Are Hungry to Work’  2/24/2015 Wharton: "Even in university, when he finally had access to the Internet, Pimienta, now 27, was limited to 20 megabytes per month of data — a small fraction of what fits on a thumb drive today. Yet, in 2013 when PayPal hosted its first-ever global hackathon competition in San Jose, Calif., with a $100,000 purse, Pimienta and two partners placed third for developing a peer-to-peer lending app called LoanPal."

Discuten en Cuba política de Internet  2/17/2015 Observatorio Critico: "Distintos medios de prensa informan de la próxima celebración en Cuba del el 1er Taller Nacional de Informatización y Ciberseguridad donde, especialistas del sector participarán en la definición colectiva de la política que adoptará el país al respecto."

Coco Fusco, “The Revolution Recodified: Social Media and Independent Culture in Cuba Today”  2/8/2015 Vimeo: "Coco Fusco discusses how independent journalists, activists, artists and musicians are using social media in Cuba to create an autonomous public sphere. Fusco is an interdisciplinary artist and writer and a MLK Visiting Scholar at MIT. She is a recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2013 Absolut Art Writing Award, a 2013 Fulbright Fellowship, a 2012 US Artists Fellowship and a 2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Fusco's performances and videos have been presented in numerous international biennials and festivals, as well as the Tate Liverpool, The Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona."

Educación cubana, en línea y más allá  1/28/2015 Juventud Rebelde: "Dentro del proceso de informatización de la sociedad cubana, CubaEduca es un portal de trascendencia. «En Cuba existen dos millones de estudiantes y 250 000 docentes. Este portal está dirigido, entonces, a cerca de un cuarto de la población cubana», abundó Ortega. Desde su concepción, CubaEduca está basada en la filosofía de web 2.0 o web social. «No se trata solo de presentar contenidos, sino de recibir retroalimentación para los profesores que trabajan en el portal. Esta es una de las riquezas que tiene CubaEduca, cuyo personal es de mucha experiencia. Cada vez que se publica una clase o un ejercicio en el portal, está fundamentado por la práctica docente de más de 20 años de experiencia de nuestro personal», remarcó."

Cuba has an illegal 'Internet' that connects thousands of computers  1/27/2015 Techspot: "In its absence, however, young Cubans have come up with their own solution. Since 2001, these rebels have created a homegrown version of the Internet called SNet, short for streetnet. cuba illegal underground internet thriving internet network wifi illegal snet streetnet Located in Havana, SNet consists of roughly 9,000 computers connected over a piecemeal network of hidden Wi-Fi antennas and Ethernet cables, some of which are strung over rooftops and city streets."

No Internet in Cuba? For some, offline link to world arrives weekly  1/9/2015 McClatchy: "The vast majority of Cubans have no access to the Internet or cable television, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of touch with the wider world. Many stay connected through an offline system that operates in the legal shadows. It’s called the “weekly packet,” and it’s an alternative to broadband Internet that provides tens of thousands of Cubans, and perhaps many more, with foreign movies, TV shows, digital copies of magazines, websites and even local advertising. Cubans obtain the packet by toting empty portable computer hard drives to clandestine distributors who load them with an array of the latest movies, television episodes and music videos. Then the hard drives are taken home, where they’re viewed on computers over the next week."

A New Thesis about Cuba’s Weekly Package (Part II)  12/29/2014 Havana Times: "The Cuban State has more than enough qualified personnel, trained at the country’s well-stocked technical and military academies and the University of Information Sciences (UCI), to develop a project as wide-encompassing and complex as the “weekly package.”"

The year of computerisation?  12/29/2014 Progreso Weekly: "But from this present full of obstacles it is imperative to look toward the future: the high education and intellectual capacity accumulated by the Cubans can be affected drastically if an economic and political will is not imposed to overcome the current conditions we have to deal with. In the same way, the country’s transformation and modernisation cannot be carried out without the resources of computer science, or using them in a deficient and limited way."

¿El año de la informatización?  12/29/2014 Progreso Semanal: "Pero desde este presente pedregoso se hace imperativo mirar hacia el futuro: la alta escolarización y capacidad intelectual acumulada por los cubanos se puede ver afectada de un modo drástico si no se impone una voluntad económica y política de superar las actuales condiciones con que debemos lidiar. Del mismo modo, la transformación y modernización económica del país no puede hacerse sin los recursos de la informática, o con un deficiente y limitado uso de ellos."

Denuncian en Cuba el envío de mensajes subversivos a celulares  12/28/2014 Progreso Semanal: "Desde el pasado 21 de diciembre se han detectado mensajesque llaman a la población a concentrarse en plazas del país y “apoyar una provocación” convocada para este 30 de diciembre, aseguran altos cargos de la empresa, según el blog ‘Cambios en Cuba’. ETECSA sospecha que los mensajes provienen de una plataforma ubicada fuera de la isla que funciona de manera similar a proyectos financiados por la agencia norteamericana USAID, como ZunZuneo y Martí Noticias."

Do Cubans Really Want US Style Internet Freedom?  12/21/2014 Sujatha Fernandez: "For all the talk about bringing Internet freedoms to Cuba, could it be that Cubans have themselves created an alternative to the corporate-driven World Wide Web by coming up with their own alternative networks for consuming and sharing information? In contrast torecent depictions of Cuba as a technological backwater, frozen in time, deprivation has yet again spurred Cubans to new creative heights. When considering the enormous opportunities that will be created by Obama’s announcement of historic policies, it will be important to keep in mind what Cubans want and need—and not what we think they do."

Cuba Opening Shines Light on Obsolete Telecom Links  12/17/2014 WSJ: Yet it is the Cuban Government that the exiles and the US media blame for denying access to the Internet: "The island nation has just one modern, fixed Internet connection to the outside world, with spotty access to satellite links providing the rest. Cuba has access to about 1% of the Internet bandwidth available in the nearby Dominican Republic, according to researcher TeleGeography."

My Take on Cuba’s “Weekly Package” (Part I)  12/16/2014 Havana Times:  I buy Cuba’s weekly TV series, music and software package on a regular basis. In my opinion, some of its contents are valuable in more than one sense. That said, there are a series of factors behind this phenomenon that have truly piqued my curiosity."

The digitalization of society, a priority for Cuba  12/15/2014 Granma: "Efforts to advance Cuba’s connectivity have been directed toward the development of telecommunications infrastructure capacity, with the purpose of strengthening social connectivity, and developing automated operations in strategic sectors. The trial balloon has been the opening of 154 Public Navigation Centers, distributed throughout the nation."

Colombia lidera nómina de delitos informáticos en América Latina  10/21/2014 Radio Cadena Agramonte 

Coco Fusco’s introduction to the Cuban blogosphere  10/6/2014 My Heart's in Accra: "Multimedia artist, writer, activist and teacher Coco Fusco is a visiting associate professor at MIT’s Comparative Media Studies this year, and she introduced herself to the Center for Civic Media community with a stunning talk this past Thursday, unpacking the history and the possible futures of the Cuban blogosphere. Fusco is a frequent traveler to Cuba and has interviewed many of the key figures in the space and offered an overview that’s complex, subtle and by far the most informative picture of the space I’ve heard thus far."

Chinese Military-Linked Telecom Firm Shipped U.S. Equipment to Cuba  9/19/2014 Free Beacon: "A Chinese telecommunications company linked to the People’s Liberation Army provided U.S.-origin equipment to Cuba in apparent violation of U.S. economic sanctions on the communist-ruled island. U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports said the equipment included U.S.-made modems, routers, and switches for telecommunications networks."

“From Cyberspace to Public Space? The Emergent Blogosphere and Cuban Civil Society”  7/1/2014 CUNY: "Today, with the development of information technologies, . . . social networks, . . . computers and the Internet, to prohibit something is nearly an impossible chimera. It makes no sense. —Miguel Díaz-Canel, first vice president of Cuba, closing speech of the National Preparatory Seminar, May 6, 2013"

Increasing Connection Between the Online and the Offline in Cuba  5/15/2014 Global Voices: by Sandra Alvarez - "In this article, we mention various emblematic events that emerged through “digital technology” that have made a commendable and intrepid connection between virtuality and reality. These activities took place in public space, they generated spontaneously, and were organized by bloggers, facebookers, twitters, and activists who make use of information and communication technologies."

Roots of Hope Members Helped USAID's 'Cuban Twitter' Project - Report  4/23/2014 Latin Post: "The U.S. Agency for International Development's controversial "Cuban Twitter" initiative tried to shift its social media program into the hands of Roots of Hope, a nonprofit organization for young Cuban-Americans, according to a new report from The Associated Press. While Roots of Hope rejected the shift, some board members from the organization have been found connected to USAID's project."

New leaks: Cuban-US organization leaders helped 'Cuban Twitter'  4/22/2014 Russia Today: "Leaders of the largest nonprofit for young Cuban-Americans, which explicitly refused to accept US government funds, in fact supported Washington’s secret program aimed at toppling Cuba’s government, a leaked report reveals."

Cuban-American youth nonprofit secretly helped with U.S.-built ‘Cuban Twitter’  4/22/2014 AP: "Leaders of Roots of Hope, a Cuban-American nonprofit, worked as consultants for the U.S.'s 'Cuban Twitter,' a network aimed at undermining the Cuban government. The disclosure could have wide repercussions for one of the most visible Cuban-American organizations."

#USAID financió a Roots of Hope para apoyo estratégico al #ZunZuneo  4/22/2014 Descubriendo Verdades: "Los líderes de la mayor organización sin fines de lucro de jóvenes cubanoestadunidenses dieron un silencioso apoyo estratégico al llamado Twitter cubano, un programa secreto del gobierno federal, estableciendo contactos entre contratistas y potenciales inversores e incluso fungiendo como consultores pagados, según comprobó The Associated Press."

Why USAID’s Cuban Twitter Program was Secret  4/14/2014 NACLA: "NACLA has been covering the overt and covert programs of USAID since March 1968. NACLA stories were instrumental in bringing down another secretive branch of USAID, the Office of Public Safety (OPS). OPS—like the modern-day OTI—was a secretive operation. It trained right-wing police and paramilitaries and involved itself with death squads, torture, and other unethical activities throughout the world. In 1974, after some eight years of NACLA’s exposing OPS, Congress was able to close it down. The momentum for ridding ourselves of OTI does not yet exist in Congress, but if we can keep it on the agenda long enough, this blight on our collective reputation worldwide can be expunged."

The Internet in Cuba: 5 Things You Need to Know  4/4/2014 Mashable: "With such limited access, Cubans have employed more creative methods of surfing. One of the most popular is for people to download online articles onto thumb drives, then pass them around to friends and family. This is sometimes called the "sneakernet," though Sanchez calls it the "Internet without Internet" — a callback to the 1990s, when Cubans used to cook the "meat picadillo without meat" because of food shortages."

Hackathon for Cuba proposes solutions for island’s communications restrictions  2/4/2014 Knight Foundation: "Roots of Hope, a Miami-based nonprofit that empowers “youth to become authors of their own future,” created Hackathon for Cuba to explore ways technology can help people glean information outside the island… The inspiration for the hackathon came from Yoanni Sanchez, Cuba’s leading blogger."

Activistas celebran evento para 'desmitificar' las nuevas tecnologías de la información  1/30/2014 Diario de Cuba: "Organizado por las organizaciones EmpoderaCuba y Comité Ciudadanos por la Integración Racial, el evento buscaba además "imaginar soluciones que vengan de la sociedad civil y trabajar en tareas de empoderamiento de ciudadano a ciudadano", para la "alfabetización digital" de un "público ávido de libertad y conocimientos sobre las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación"."

Cuba’s Internet Revolution Faces Economic and Political Realities  1/21/2014 MIT Technology Review: "“Castro has not committed to anything other than the prisoner swap and allowing a U.S. embassy on the island,” says Coco Fusco, a visiting associate professor in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing program at MIT, who visits Cuba frequently and has done research on Cuba’s blogosphere. “No concrete promises have been made. We have to wait and see what the Cuban government actually decides to allow.”"

Russian media report: How Snowden missed his flight to Cuba  8/26/2013 CS Monitor: "A Kommersant source who is close to the US State Department confirmed that Cuba was one of the countries whose authorities had been warned by the US that any assistance provided to Snowden will lead to 'adverse consequences.' Later Vladimir Putin said that the United States 'in fact, blocked [Snowden's] further flight' to Latin America," leaving him stuck in Russia."

Cuba’s Journey on the Internet: There’s a Long March Ahead  8/14/2013 Time: "only 25% of the population is online" [This figure comes from official sources.]

Internet access now a reality for some Cubans, but not cheap at $4.50 an hour  8/6/2013 CNN 

Cuba's New Internet Service is Also No Bed of Roses  7/16/2013 MIT Technology Review 

Senador socio de terrorista CIA amenaza a “cualquier” país que otorga asilo a Snowden  7/8/2013 Kaos en la Red: "Menéndez es este miembro del Senado quién se reunió el 17 de mayo de 2011 con Luis Posada Carriles, en un restaurante de West New York, para felicitar el viejo asesino para su indulto por un tribunal tejano, una operación dirigida por nada menos que Roger Noriega, el ex alto funcionario del Departamento de Estado. El senador famoso por sus lazos con la mafia, tanto italiana que cubanoamericana, es un aliado fiel de la Representante por Miami Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, la también Presidente del “Fondo de defensa” de Posada."

Operación a gran escala de guerra en red contra Cuba  6/24/2013 La Haine: "Según los sitios web empleados por Washington para la subversión contra la Isla, numerosos mensajes de texto se están enviando al ciberespacio cubano a través de un sistema computarizado, desarrollado por especialistas de marketing en masa, para llegar a grandes cantidades de personas desde diferentes números de teléfono, tanto en Estados Unidos como en España."

In Cuba: “You Will Learn, but not Too Much”  6/3/2013 Havana Times: "How else could we explain the creation of new cybercafés, which will offer Internet services in several municipalities across the country at the “affordable” price of US $5 the hour? Never before have we seen such clear proof that the Cuban government isn’t interested in providing its citizens with Internet access."

Cuba’s New Cybercafés: A Piecemeal Strategy  5/30/2013 Havana Times: "With a total of 334 computer consoles around the country, the cybercafés will be open 11 hours a day. If every user were to navigate for only an hour, a mere 3,700 people would be able to access the Internet a day. If we maintain our initial figure of 8 million potential Internet users, people would get to connect once every 5 years. Even if we assume I am exaggerating and that only 10 % of this hypothetical population wants to use the Internet, each person would have access to the web only once every six months. And Cuba’s phone company, ETECSA, needed all of two years to take this bold step, from the date in which the installation of an underwater fiber-optic cable between Cuba and Venezuela was completed."

Fiber Optic Cable Between Cuba and Jamaica Now Operative  5/22/2013 Havana Times: "Doug Madory, the top analyst for Renesys, said adding Jamaica gives Cuba a backup in case of an interruption in the branch of the ALBA-1 to Venezuela."

Yoani Sánchez destaca papel de tecnología en lucha interna en Cuba  3/16/2013 Nuevo Herald 

The Internet, Broadband and Foreign Policy - Cyber Cuba  2/26/2013 Cuba-L 

How Cuba lets us use new technology in old ways  1/21/2013 Havana Times: "iPhones, Blackberrys, laptops and all kinds of “pads” are becoming more commonplace in Havana. This new generation of personal electronics are full of the latest apps, movies, TV shows, and news programs. This is happening with less than 5% of the population connected to the internet. As these next-generation devices are finding a home Cuba the analogue and digital worlds are mixing in proportion not frequently seen in other countries. And it just might prove that everything you think about modern technology inevitably destroying “real” social networks is as outdated as a flickering CRT monitor."

NTICs: brecha digital y empoderamiento ciudadano  6/1/2012 Islas: por Rafel Campoamor, Presidente fundador, ONG EmpoderaCuba

NTICs, the Digital Divide and Citizen Empowerment  6/1/2012 Islas: by Rafel Campoamor, Founding President, NGO EmpoderaCuba

U.S. blocking Cuba’s access to information technology  5/24/2012 Granma: "OBSTACLES preventing access to information technology and communications derived from the U.S. blockade of Cuba were denounced before the World Trade Organization in Geneva on May 16. Washington must be called upon to end its unilateral coercive measures, asserted Carlos Fidel Martín, from the Cuban embassy in Switzerland, during a symposium organized for the 15th anniversary of the Information Technology Agreement."

La NED y el uso de Internet contra la Revolución Cubana  4/14/2012 Jiribilla: "El abastecimiento de equipos de telecomunicaciones sofisticados a miembros de la contrarrevolución interna, tales como BGAN, teléfonos satelitales, celulares de última generación, equipos de filmaciones, PC´s y laptops, programas de encriptación de comunicaciones entre otros recursos, además de los financieros y el asesoramiento a los “disidentes” para que aprendan a utilizar estos equipos, ha sido una constante en los planes de la Administración norteamericana. La utilización exitosa de las redes sociales a través de Internet para promover los procesos de la “Primavera Árabe”, ha incentivado los planes para promover un proceso semejante en Cuba a través de Internet y las TIC´s."

EBECuba  2/3/2012 CNN iCuba: "La ONG EmpoderaCuba esta organizando una conferencia internacional de blogueros en la Habana marzo del 2012 : el EBECuba. Quisieramos informar a el mundo sobre nuestro evento. Nuestra bloguera Yoani Sanchez y muchos otros blogueros cubanos y de otros paises presentaran ponencias y assistiran a debates sobre nuestra lucha contra la brecha digital y por el empodramiento ciudadano mediante las TICs."

Educación tecnológica comunitaria en Valera, estado Trujillo - Venezuela, año escolar 2012 -2013  1/9/2012 Educare, Veneuela: "El artículo reporta hallazgos de una experiencia educativa cuyo propósito fue sensibilizar e introducir a los estudiantes en nuevas formas de comunicación tecnológica en los contextos comunitarios con miras a instruirlos en el desarrollo de un informe de investigación. La muestra la conformó un grupo estudiantes de 6to año, del periodo escolar 2012-2013, de la especialidad de Informática en la Escuela Técnica Colegio “Santo Tomás de Aquino” y el Liceo Bolivariano “Rafael Rangel”, ambos en Valera, Estado Trujillo. El estudio se dimensionó en cuatro fases metodológicas: Diagnóstico, Marco Metodológico, Análisis de los Datos y Resultados, Recomendaciones o Sugerencias y Producción del Conocimiento. Entre los resultados alcanzados se planificó y ejecutó la “I Presentación Tecnológica Educativa Comunitaria”, el cual fue un evento de socialización en relación a las temáticas abordadas: Uso Doméstico del Internet, Realidades de los Cyber, Uso de Dispositivos Móviles y Hábitos de Estudio en el uso del Internet."

Cumbre en Panamá para ciberguerra contra Cuba: hacia nuevos fracasos  4/9/2011 La pupila insomne 

Convoca el Instituto Bush encuentro para coordinar ciberguerra contra Venezuela, Cuba, Irán y Rusia  4/8/2010 CubaDebate: "El Instituto George W. Bush y la organización estadounidense Freedom House han convocado a un encuentro de “activistas por la libertad y los derechos humanos” y “expertos en Internet” para analizar el “movimiento global de ciberdisidentes”. Al encuentro, que se realizará ese día en Dallas, Texas, asistirán Rodrigo Diamanti de la organización Futuro Presente de Venezuela; Arash Kamangir, de Irán; Oleg Kozlovsky, de Rusia; Ernesto Hernández Busto, de Cuba (vive en Barcelona y es conocido en la red cubana como “Pájaro Tieso”); Isaac Mao, de China; y Ahed Alhendi, de Siria. También estarán presentes miembros del gobierno estadounidense y otras organizaciones vinculadas con la comunidad de inteligencia de Washington, como Jeffrey Gedmin, presidente de Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, un proyecto de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA) creado durante la Guerra Fría para luchar contra el comunismo en Europa; Daniel Baer, Asistente Secretario de Estado para la Democracia, los Derechos Humanos y el Trabajo; Peter Ackerman, fundador del Centro Internacional para el Conflicto Noviolento (ICNC), entidad involucrada en las llamadas “revoluciones de colores” en Europa Oriental; Oscar Morales Guevara, fundador del movimiento “un millón de voces contra las FARC” y promotor de un movimiento contra el Presidente Chávez a través de Facebook; Jennifer Windsor, directora ejecutiva de Freedom House, y otros representantes de Freedom House, el Departamento de Estado y el Instituto George W. Bush."

Twitter se subleva contra Pat Robertson por sus comentarios sobre Haití  1/13/2010 CubaDebate 

State Department: US Claims to Help Cubans Communicate Globally  12/16/2009 Along the Malecon 

Plotting Cuba's digital revolution  12/15/2009 Along the Malecon: "I don't know if there are any specific regulations prohibiting smart phones that are activated in such countries as Mexico. I would imagine that some U.S. officials would love to flood Cuba with those, although the costs would high because of roaming charges. Perhaps U.S. officials hope to distribute some other kind of communication equipment. The U.S. government and its contractors have managed to pass out hundreds of thousands of short-wave radios in Cuba over the past decade, so it's not inconceivable that they could distribute mass quantities of electronic equipment."

More on Sneaky US Contractor in Cuba: How Did He Get Equipment into the Country?  12/15/2009 Honduras Oye 

La CIA utiliza la USAID como fachada, confirma alto funcionario de la agencia estadounidense  12/14/2009 Aporrea: por Eva Golinger

La corrupción en la campaña mediática del imperio contra América Latina  12/14/2009 Cuba periodistas: por Jean-Guy Allard - "Para alcanzar sus objetivos, la VOA usará las instalaciones de producción de Radio y TV Martí lo que, según el rotativo mafioso de Miami, ha alimentado "especulaciones de que las estaciones Martí acabarán pasando a formar parte de la VOA". Radio y TV Martí han sido sacudidos por varios escándalos de corrupción, en los últimos años. Lo más divertido es que Alberto Mascaró, quien anunció la nueva orientación de la VOA, es nada menos que el sobrino de la esposa de Pedro Roig, director general de Radio y TV Martí, corporación famosa por dedicarse a contratar a las amistades de sus "capos". Ex director de la Interamerican Military Academy de Miami, Roig fue formado por la CIA en Fort Benning al lado del terrorista internacional Luis Posada Carriles, como sicario de la Operación 40, con vistas a la fracasada invasión de Playa Girón."

Action against Cuba  12/13/2009 ZZ's Blog: "While The New York Times understates dramatically both the funding and government dependence of DAI, it does reveal an interesting aspect of the story. The detainment occurred on December 5 with no public disclosure by the Cuban government. The fact that US officials felt compelled to announce the detainment, confessing the detainee’s activities and his employment, suggests that there will likely be more exposed in the days to come."

Terrorism and Civil Society - The Instruments of US Policy in Cuba  12/12/2009 CounterPunch: by Philip Agee, former CIA officer, published 8/2003 - "Actually the new program was not really new. Since its founding in 1947, the CIA had been deeply involved in secretly funding and manipulating foreign non-governmental voluntary organizations. These vast operations circled the globe and were targeted at political parties, trade unions and businessmen's associations, youth and student organizations, women's groups, civic organizations, religious communities, professional, intellectual and cultural societies, and the public information media. The network functioned at local, national, regional and global levels. Media operations, for example, were underway continuously in practically every country, wherein the CIA would pay journalists to publish its materials as if they were the journalists' own."

Entregan a bloguera medalla hecha “con plata de la dictadura de Batista”  12/9/2009 Aporrea: por Jean-Guy Allard - "Según los organizadores del “acto”, la condecoración es compuesta “por un peso de plata de los que circulaban” en los tiempos de la dictadura sanguinaria de Fulgencio Batista. Los fundadores del Comité paramilitar de la FNCA y que hoy dirigen el CLC, entre los cuales Diego Suarez, Alberto Hernández Alberto Hernández y Ninoska Pérez-Castellón (esposa del terrorista Roberto Martin Pérez, encabezaron las ágapes entrecortadas de discursos caracterizados por su fanatismo de extrema derecha. El comité paramilitar de la FNCA sufragó a Posada Carriles durante sus campañas de terror, en 1997, en territorio cubano y orientaron la compra de un millonario arsenal de armas por Antonio “Toñin” Llama, destinado a acciones terroristas de gran envergadura."

Marketing war heats up among Cuba’s “dissidents”  11/23/2009 CubaDebate: "The interview President Barack Obama granted the “blogger” Yoani Sánchez is the culmination of a project I feel like calling Operation Marketing; aimed as it is at the promotion and visibility of a new counter-revolutionary figure in Cuba, in the face of the worn out and battered “dissidence,” fighting like a pack of wolves with fangs bared in search of their prey: money. ...Without cross-checking the facts and without verifying anything, plenty of media ran with the story about the “kidnapping” and “beating” of the famous “blogger.” Hundreds of articles circled the planet from one end to the other on that story, which Yoani herself could not back up, even with the BBC, when she could not present any proof of the blows she’d received. But not everyone got on the boat of lies, and many have been questioning the script. One skeptic was the La República newspaper, who went to look for the doctors who attended Yoani and found that none of them found the least physical evidence for the supposed aggression."

Cuba: Broadband and Other Such Matters  11/18/2009 Cuba-L-Analysis: by Nelson P. Valdés - "The foreign press stationed in Cuba claims that a dissident in Havana has a blog that is translated into 16 or more languages and has from 1 to 14 million visits a month. That is impressive for anyone worldwide. For someone in Cuba it borders on a Fatima-like miracle.[7] From a logistical standpoint, this is an unusual accomplishment. Is it possible for such traffic to be handled by Cuba today? Who is/are the administrator[s] of the web pages in all these languages? Translation is complicated, time-consuming, and a worldwide translation team is costly. How is this work done? How is it paid for? And what is the mechanism for transferring this payment?"

US Loosens Internet Restrictions on Iran and Cuba  10/30/2009 Internet & Democracy Blog, Harvard Law: "Arguing that access to the flow of information on the Internet in Iran and Cuba is in line with US interests, the US Treasury has asked Google and Microsoft to give users in those two countries access to their chat services. This is a smart move, but just the beginning of what should be done to increase the flow on online speech in those countries."

Si los blogs son terapéuticos ¿quién paga la terapia de Yoani Sánchez?  8/25/2009 CiberPrensa: "En Generación Y aparece en un lugar prominente un enlace para comprar el libro de Yoani en italiano, Cuba libre. Esto es algo que puede hacer cualquiera a través de PayPal, pero no un cubano que vive en Cuba, porque contraviene las regulaciones del bloqueo, donde la normativa que prohíbe el comercio electrónico en este caso es muy clara. Ya quisieran muchos periodistas que han quedado sin empleo “tener la habilidad” para emplear sus herramientas de administración y servicios, con gateway de pago o pasarela electrónica para el traspaso de dinero a través de tarjetas de crédito. Sin embargo, para que nadie se equivoque, tiene su Copyright © 2009 Generación Y – All Rights Reserved, algo que ningún bloguero cubano puede hacer tampoco desde la Isla."

Cuba ¿la red cercada?  5/29/2009 Juventud Rebelde: "La decisión de Microsoft de bloquear para los cubanos el sistema de conversación on line Messenger es apenas una vuelta de tuerca más en el bloqueo tecnológico de Estados Unidos contra la Isla."

Yoani Sánchez: Pentagon babe  5/8/2009 Machetera: "Military academics offer another extremely important variable in the information war waged on the Internet. In order to turn prejudices into real facts, they should be filtered through a personal perspective, preferably accompanied by pictures and other evidence which prove that the witness can be found where the story takes place. Military Review,[9] the Pentagon’s official magazine, has dedicated extensive analysis to the importance of blogs and cyber-dissidents in this strategy. They serve to offer a face and anecdote to a rhetoric that corresponds to the political designs of the North American military for each region in conflict, particularly those where Internet use is on the rise."

Cuba cutting Internet access  5/7/2009 Sun Sentinel: "Cuba is further limiting access to the World Wide Web for its citizens, in what many believe is an effort to rein in a small but increasingly popular group of bloggers who are critical of the government. Only government employees, academics and researchers are allowed their own Internet accounts, which are provided by the state, but only have limited access to sites outside the island. Ordinary Cubans may open e-mail accounts accessible at many post offices, but do not have access to the Web. Many got around the restrictions by using hotel Internet services. But a new resolution barring ordinary Cubans from using hotel Internet services quietly went into place in recent weeks, according to an official with Cuba's telecom monopoly, hotel workers and bloggers."

Plans to expand Internet access in Cuba prompt censorship warnings  4/20/2009 NextGov 

Cuba’s Mobile Opening  7/3/2008 Internet & Democracy Blog, Harvard Law 

I&D Budapest Session 4: Internet, Democratization and Authoritarian Regimes  6/26/2008 Internet & Democracy Blog, Harvard Law: "There is Internet in Cuba, all through satellite. There is also a large parallel market that operates vis-a-vis ICTs. When Joshua and Gwendolyn were in Cuba they decided to put a sign up “Free Internet Access Available Here” in a marginalized neighborhood. People knew what the Internet was and suggested they take the sign down with haste lest they get in trouble. Flash drives are also widely used to share non state-controlled information. So Gwendolyn and Joshua have developed a device that allows for the rapid copying of flash drives without the need for a computer. This means that data on flash drives can be copied during a taxi ride, for example. The device also includes a small LCD screen and a built-in speaker. It can be operated using batteries and/or solar power. In addition, the device can be plugged into a television to watch video clips since there are virtually no computers in Cuba while one in five Cubans own a TV."

Will Cuba’s “Cyber Rebels” Help Set it Free?  3/8/2008 Internet & Democracy Blog, Harvard Law 

Cyber-Rebels in Cuba Defy State’s Limits  3/6/2008 NYT: "A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress."

Of Necessity and Humanity: What Cuba Can Teach Us About Ourselves and Our Own Technology  3/5/2008 Etech 

Embargo in Cyberspace  12/18/2002 Seattle Weekly: "Tom Warner did Castro when Castro wasn't cool. The 77-year-old Seattle activist and World War II vet says he was radicalized "to the ways of imperialism" while sailing to Africa and the Middle East as a merchant seaman after the war." By focusing on an admitted communist, the media avoids the larger issue of Bush's attempts to eliminate people to people contact through such forums as the US Cuba Sister Cities Association.

Potential Cuban cyberattacks concern U.S. officials  2/6/2002 AP: rampant hysteria…

Millions Spent Subverting 'Enemies,' Stifling Dissent  2/15/2001 Wisdom Fund: "Consider the U.S. Central Information Agency's disinformation program begun late in the 1940s and early 1950s. This program eventually involved most of the major private institutions in American life (John Harwood, "O What a Tangled Web the CIA Wove," Washington Post, February 26, 1967). "It was not enough for the United States to arm its allies, to strengthen government institutions, or to finance the industrial establishment through economic and military programs," wrote Mr. Harwood. "Intellectuals, students, educators, trade unionists, journalists and professional men had to be recruited directly through their private organizations."