Posts Tagged ‘cuba’

Cell phones and the Internet are spreading in Cuba, apparently empowering dissidents. This follows illicit television that has been popular in Cuba for years:

Since the 1990s, television has been the censors’ Achilles heel. Thousands of Cubans, mostly in Havana, watch Spanish-language telecasts from Miami. U.S. State Department officials estimate that 10,000 to 15,000 parabolic antennas are in use in Cuba.

Will two-way communications empower more than TV broadcasts? Or will traditional power structures bring about changes in Cuba?

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Lots of good statistics about Internet usage in China.

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Another piece on the trade vs. aid debate, but with a heavier focus on African entrepreneurship. [For more information, see infoDev's page on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including this report on the SME Financing Gap.]

On Wednesday, the White House announced that it was permitting Americans to send Cuban relatives cell phones. This followed Raul Castro’s policy change which allowed the ownership of cell phones in the oppressive one-party state. To me this is a no-brainer and hopefully indicative of a broader American policy which recognizes the failure of the 40 year embargo which has neither removed Communist rule or bettered the economic position of the Cubans.

Not only should free speech and its tools be encouraged in the States, the agency enhancement – economic, political and social – which results from mobile communication should be actively supported abroad. For example, amidst Kenyan post-election turmoil earlier this year, a tool was created called Ushahidi which allowed Kenyans to report in real-time, via text message, incidences of violence. More generally, the merits of cell phones are often noted when producers need to determine distant market prices.

However, even though Cubans may now own cell phones, questions of infrastructure remain. A joint venture between the Cuban carrier and Telecom Italia is said to be expanding, but as long as we are in the business of providing wireless communication to Cuba (as we do with Radio and TV Marti) why not provide cell phone coverage and encourage Americans to send unlocked mobile devices?