Published on 19 October 2006
17 March 2010 - President Lula told action on Cuba should no longer be Latin American taboo as Havana continues to crack down
18 February 2010 - Reporters Without Borders correspondent turns 60 in prison
1 February 2010 - Dissident journalist arrested in Holguín as freedom to inform is stalled
Reporters Without Borders today publishes a report entitled "Going online in Cuba - Internet under surveillance" with the results of tests carried out on the island in August. It includes a survey of the Internet control methods used by the authorities and the personal account of a French journalist who spent several weeks there this summer.
Extract:
"With less than 2 per cent of the population online, Cuba is one of the world’s most backward countries as regards Internet usage. The worst off by far in Latin America and with a thirteenth of Costa Rica’s usage, it is down there with Uganda or Sri Lanka. This is quite surprising in a country that boasts one of the highest levels of education in the world. The authorities blame this disastrous situation on the US trade embargo, which supposedly prevents them from getting the equipment they need for Internet development. In particular, they say they are unable to use underwater fibre optic cable to connect to the Internet outside Cuba and are therefore reduced to using costly and less effective satellite links.
This may indeed explain the slowness of the Cuban Internet and the endless lines outside Internet cafes. But in no way does it justify the system of control and surveillance that has been put in place by the authorities. In a country where the media are under the government’s thumb, preventing independent reports and information from circulating online has naturally become a priority.
An investigation carried out by Reporters Without Borders revealed that the Cuban government uses several mechanisms to ensure that the Internet is not used in a “counter-revolutionary” fashion. Firstly, the government has more or less banned private Internet connections. To visit websites or check their e-mail, Cubans have to use public access points such as Internet cafes, universities and “Youth computing centers” where it is easier to monitor their activity. Then, the Cuban police has installed software on all computers in Internet cafes and big hotels that triggers an alert message when “subversive” key-words are noticed.
The regime also ensures that there is no Internet access for its political opponents and independent journalists, for whom reaching news media abroad is an ordeal. The government also counts on self-censorship. In Cuba, you can get a 20-year prison sentence for writing a few “counter-revolutionary” articles for foreign websites, and a five-year one just for connecting with the Internet in an illegal manner. Few people dare to defy the state censorship and take such a risk."
Reporters Without Borders is staging an online protest on 7-8 November 2006 "24 Hours AgainstInternet Censorship." Campaign with us at www.rsf.org
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Miguel Galván Gutiérrez was arrested in March 2003 during an unprecedented crackdown launched by the Cuban government and sentenced to 26 years in prison after being found guilty of being a "mercenary in the service of a foreign power".
