Cuba does not rule out Internet access for all
Cuban
Radar Read Spanish Version
Cuba
does not rule out Internet access for all
A
service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau
Boris
Moreno, Cuba’s vice minister of computing and communications, tolf
Juventud Rebelde (JR) that access to Internet for all "has not
been ruled out," although that is an issue where no decision has
been made. But it should not be a concern," he added.
"From
the political point of view there is no limitation, except that, as
happens in every country, we will not allow access to sites that
promote terrorism and subversion of the system that the Cuban people
themselves have chosen," Moreno said.
The
island’s official stand is to "offer privileged collective
access," something that Vice Minister Moreno ratified.
In
his declarations, he said that presently there are 1.4 million users
on the island. The figure includes people who have e-mail, as well as
those surfing the Intranet (a government service) and the Internet.
Internet
access is prioritized for journalists, businessmen, intellectuals,
academics and important figures, as well as in work places, and
educational and scientific centers.
Granting
free access depends on two factors: political will and technological
possibilities. From the technical point of view, at present there is
a serious obstacle, namely that communications are by satellite, and
there is no wideband access in Cuba. Moreno pointed out that the
island only has a 180 MB output capacity and 302 MB input.
In
2010, Cuba will solve the technical problem once the submarine cable
linking Santiago de Cuba with La Guaira (Venezuela) is in place. Then
the matter of granting Internet access to anyone able to pay will be
a matter of political will.
"There
is a will that when technical and economic conditions allow it more
Cuban citizens will have Internet access," Vice Minister Moreno
said.
Senior
citizens receive university degrees
According
to Prensa Latina news agency, in the past six years, 56,800 senior
citizens graduated from Cuban universities.
University
departments dedicated to elder persons are located at 201
subsidiaries and 728 classrooms all over the country, including rural
areas.
Private
farmers increase milk production
Orlando
Lugo, president of the Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), told
Trabajadores Weekly that "milk production grew by more than 100
million liters during the past two years," both in cooperatives
and among individual producers.
Lugo
said that both sectors had an output of 226 million liters in 2008
and that they plan to reach 300 million in 2009.
ANAP’s
president also declared that in the 1990s, cooperatives and
individual producers only had "22 percent of the country’s
cattle (…) and at present they have 57 percent."
ANAP
is the association that groups owners of non governmental farms, both
the ones organized as cooperatives and others who farm their property
individually.
Cuba
could meet goals of the millennium
Cuba’s
United Nations system coordinator Susan McDade said in Havana that
the island had already achieved several of the eight goals of the
millennium outlined by the UN in 2000.
The
goals include, among others, the decrease of poverty, universal
education and a decrease of infant mortality, all three of which have
been amply met by Cuba.
According
to Ms. McDade, Cuba shows achievements in the matter of education and
in infant and maternal mortality very similar to those of developed
countries and even better in some cases.
Cuba
is in 51st place, among 177 nations, according to the Index of Human
Development, which registers quality of life of populations by
combining Gross National Product, life expectancy and literacy rate.
Almost
a half million cellular phones
According
to Juventud Rebelde (JR), in its Sunday, February 8 edition, there
are 479,861 mobile telephone lines contracted on the island, many of
them in remote places."
One
of the measures taken by President Raúl Castro’s administration was
to open access to cell phones to all citizens. Up to March, 2008,
cell phones were limited to foreign residents, government officials,
journalists, and an unknown number of Cubans who had obtained lines
through foreign visitors.
Máximo
Lafuente, vice president of mobile services of Cuban Enterprise of
Telecommunications (ETECSA), said that at present the cellular
network covers 67.3 percent of the country and 75.8 of the
population.
In
places difficult to install land lines, ETECSA offers cell phone
service and the so called Fixed Alternative Telephones, a service
paid in Cuban currency.
Lafuente
added that most of this cellular traffic is subsidized by the
government thanks to the income generated by cell phones paid in
convertible pesos, but JR says that prices are too high and that most
of the population cannot afford it.
Until
March, 2008, a cellular line cost 120 convertible pesos (CUC), but
since December, 2008, it has been reduced to 60 CUC (1 CUC equals
$1.20 dollars).
Rates
vary for calls made and received. A call from another cell phone
costs 0.46 CUC; a call made from a cell phone to another costs 0.50
CUC; and from a fixed line the price is 0.60 CUC.
Lafuente
told JR that "the Cuban government has the firm intention of
continuing to expand mobile telephone service and giving access to
most of the population, depending on the resources available."
Companies
inspected
Carlos
Mateu, vice minister of Labor and Social Security, told Trabajadores
Weekly that a national inspection was started on February 9 to all
enterprises in the country "in order to evaluate the proper
implementation of the payment of salaries according to results."
A
law was enacted in 2008 so that salaries are paid according to the
results of each worker. Provisions of the law include that there
should be "as many salary systems as necessary, according to the
characteristics of each sector." The purpose of the law is to
incentivize production and productivity.
Trabajadores
pointed out that during the inspection "there will be no fines
due to violations, although there will be disciplinary measures to
management whenever appropriate."
