fran ilich on 17 Nov 2000 21:43:07 -0000 |
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[nettime-lat] FW: CUBA: Cybercafe for Intellectuals, Artists |
{hola, envio este texto que me parece relevante para la discusion sobre cuba. habla sobre la situacion actual respecto a internet. en todo caso la veracidad de la nota podra ser confirmada o desmentida por quienes conozcan la situacion en cuba. mainly the cubans, the cuban expatriates y los asiduos turistas. en cuanto a mi, me gustaria conocer la isla en un futuro cercano / ps, esten pendientes en el trabajo que prepara rafael lozano-hemmer en la habana. / ilich.] Copyright 2000 InterPress Service, all rights reserved. Worldwide distribution via the APC networks. *** 09-Nov-0* *** Title: COMMUNICATIONS-CUBA: Cybercafe for Intellectuals, Artists By Dalia Acosta HAVANA, Nov 9 (IPS) - Some 200 writers and editors will benefit from the opening of ''El Aleph'', the first cybercafe in Cuba, where the state maintains strict control over access to the Internet. The cafe, which opened Nov 1 and takes its name from a story by one of Argentina's literary greats, the late Jorge Luis Borges, is located in the Palacio del Segundo Cabo, the headquarters of the governmental Cuban Book Institute, in Old Havana. ''We are offering a service that everyone needs,'' Joanna Ram¡rez, a 19-year-old hired on the basis of her solid computer skills to attend the cybercafe's clients, told IPS. Ram¡rez did not rule out the possibility of a future expansion of the services offered, perhaps even to non-associates. But for now, the clientele will be comprised of members of the Cuban Book Institute, the Union of Writers and Artists, which is closely associated with the government, and the Hermanos Sa¡z Association, which answers to the Union of Communist Youth. For a monthly quota of 10 pesos (50 cents of a dollar in the government exchange bureaus), associates will have six hours of access to the Internet per month, and will be charged two pesos (10 cents of a dollar) for every extra hour. The associates will each have their own e-mail address, and can take computer courses free of charge. And for a small additional fee, they will have access to services like scanning, printing and binding of documents. Culture Minister Abel Prieto said at the inauguration of the cybercafe that it was only a ''first step'' in the support that culture authorities would offer artists in terms of computers and information technology. According to newspaper reports, the minister would like Cuban writers to enjoy, in the future, home access to all of the tools necessary for their work, including the Internet. However, Roberto del Puerto, director of the division of the Ministry of Informatics and Communications in charge of Internet connections, said last month that for now there were no plans to authorise household access to the information superhighway, due to technical limitations and to the government's decision to seek solutions that benefit a majority of the population, and not just privileged minorities. Cuba, with slightly more than 11 million people, had 35,170 e- mail accounts in June, only half of which were able to communicate internationally, according to the Ministry of Informatics. Of the total 110,000 computers registered in the country, 3,625 had full access to the Internet. These mainly belonged to official institutions, joint ventures operating with foreign capital, accredited foreign correspondents and diplomats. No one has the right to register on a personal basis for the Internet or e-mail, according to Decree-Law 209 on ''access from the Republic of Cuba to Information Networks of Global Scope'', passed in 1996. A commission made up of representatives of several ministries and state bodies processes the applications, and decides what individuals and institutions will have access to the Internet. The government saw Cuba's connection to the information superhighway on Oct 11, 1996 as an inevitable risk. ''There are no alternatives, and we must not lose any more time,'' Vice-President Carlos Lage had stated a few months earlier. Information coming from abroad has been heavily filtered in Cuba since the 1960s, when propaganda became a key element of the strategy followed by opponents of the 1959 revolution headed by Fidel Castro. The government put filters in place to prevent access to web pages posted by internal opposition groups or the independent press, both of which are illegal, and to pornographic websites. Cuban web-surfers find it practically impossible to download documents that include information or messages criticising or contradicting the government or the local human rights situation. ''The reason for all of these controls is purely ideological,'' commented a writer who preferred to remain anonymous. He has the basic technical set-up, including an e-mail address through which he can communicate with people and institutions abroad, but he does not have the right to pay for access to the Internet. The situation is even more difficult in other provinces of Cuba, where most people with the technical set-up, in their homes or workplaces, can only communicate with other e-mail addresses within Cuba. Elizardo S nchez, the president of the illegal internal opposition group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said the government ''only promotes access by those sectors which are in its own interest and which benefit it.'' However, more and more people have found the way to connect to Internet, either legally or illegally. The Ministry of Higher Education announced this year the gradual incorporation of all of Cuba's universities to the ''group of the privileged'' with Internet access. In addition, 200 journalists working for the state-monopolised press were given 40 hours of Internet access a month. Meanwhile, on the black market, passwords allowing access to the Internet can be bought for 25 dollars a month, and web pages are designed and posted on the web for a fee of 600 to 800 dollars. That means that web pages abound announcing houses or rooms to rent, tourist guides, art galleries or private restaurants, posted by people who hired the services of specialists working on the black market. Economists consulted by IPS did not want to venture an estimate of the number of people with illegal home connections to the Internet, who are mainly artists, scientists and academics in general. (END/IPS/tra-so/da/ag/sw/00) Origin: Montevideo/COMMUNICATIONS-CUBA/ ---- [c] 2000, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS) All rights reserved _______________________________________________ nettime-lat mailing list nettime-lat@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-lat