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29 march 2002. Reporters
Without Borders
The Cuban government has banned the sale of personal computers to the
general public except in cases of special need, when official permission must
be sought. The ban, reported by the online newspaper Wired News on 25 March
and first disclosed by the Cuban exile website Cubanet, was confirmed by several
RSF sources in Cuba who said it had been imposed in Havana in mid-January and
extended to the rest of the country on 1 February. Wired News, which said the
measure had caused a row inside the government, was contained in decree
383/2001, banning the sale of "computers, offset printer equipment,
mimeographs, photocopiers and any other mass printing medium" to "associations,
foundations, civic and non-profit organisations and Cuban private individuals."
If such equipment, or spare parts or accessories for it, was considered
essential, authorisation would be needed from the internal trade ministry. A
source in Havana told Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that a notice pinned up
in a shopping centre in the capital's La Playa district announced that
computers, spare parts and accessories could not be sold to individuals from 16
January. Other shops confirmed this though one in La Playa was still selling
them to people.
The sale of any kind of printing machinery has always been strictly
controlled by the government to prevent the appearance of independent
publications, but the purchase (in dollars only) of personal computers and fax
machines had become easier in recent months. However, the new measure comes
after the illegal Cuban Institute of Independent Economists, headed by the
well-known dissident economist Marta Beatriz Roque, opened an Internet website
(www.cubaicei.org) last 7 December. Cubans' access to the site, which is run
from Miami but is the first one to carry news wholly supplied by dissidents
inside Cuba, was blocked by the government less a week later.
The Cuban government spokesman in Washington, Luis Fernández, was
evasive when questioned about the ban by Wired News, saying that "if we
didn't have an embargo, there could be computers for everybody." Sergio Pérez,
then head of the state enterprise Teledatos, said in an article in the official
daily Granma on 7 February last year: "In a country the victim of an
embargo, where medicine is in short supply, how can you not expect an shortage
of Internet access too?" However, such problems in Cuba go beyond
economics and access is strictly controlled. Its use is conditional on respect
for "the moral values of Cuban society and the laws of the country"
and only foreign companies and government institutions are allowed access.
There are two cybercafés, but one is reserved for tourists and the other
is restricted to members of the official Writers and Artists Association,
UNEAC.
Since last September, ordinary Cubans have been able to get an e-mail
address and consult the Internet at four post offices in Havana. But surfing
is limited to a collection of government-approved sites known locally as the "Intranet."
It is also expensive, at $4.50 (5) an hour, when the average monthly wage is
only $12. Civil society and human rights organisations, which are not
recognised by the government, regularly send articles by phone and fax to be
published on Miami-based websites.
In Cuba, where the Constitution says "freedom of expression
and the media is subordinate to the goals of a socialist society,"
only a government-controlled media is allowed. A hundred or so independent
journalists, grouped into about 20 press agencies and other associations not
recognised by the government are constantly harassed and since 1995, about 50
journalists have fled abroad.
Related information
Computer
sales limited to government entities / Cuba-Verdad
Constitución
de la República de Cuba - 1992 |
