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Tessie's Cuba Libre?:
Canadian arm of Heinz-Kerry electronic octopus
hooked Cuba up to Worldwide Net
Judi Mcleod, Editor, Canadafreepress.com.
July 19, 2004.
Uncle Sam officially broke off relations
with Havana under the 1961 Trading with
the Enemy Act. Not so for Teresa Heinz-Kerry,
who in 1991, using a Canadian connection
funded by her Tides Foundation, linked the
communist country up to the World Internet.
The Toronto-based Web/Nirv, Canadian affiliate
of the Institute for Global Communications
(IGC) and its offshoot the Association for
Progressive Communications (APC), used a
64 KBPS undersea cable IP link from Havana
to Sprint in the United States, linking
Cubans to the Information Highway.
IGC and APC are one of the Tides Foundation's
largest ongoing projects.
A massive, 24-hour, transnational computer
communications network, IGC services 17
United Nations offices, 40,000 activists,
some of the radical stripe and a legion
of non-government organizations in more
than 133 countries.
The Tides' octopus of the electronic communications
world got its start back in 1987, when the
England-based GreenNet began collaborating
with IGC, which operates PeaceNet, EcoNet,
ConflictNet and LaborNet in the U.S.
According to an APC Internet historical
account, the two giant networks began sharing
their electronic conference materials and
"demonstrated that transnational electronic
communications could serve international,
as well as domestic committees working for
peace, human rights and the environment."
By late 1989, the IGC network included
Canada (Web), Sweden (NordNet), Brazil (AlterNex),
Nicaragua (Nicaro) and Australia (Pegasus).
Hooking up the left wing world to the Internet
didn't happen by default. In the spring
of 1990, The Tides Foundation funded APC
with the specific goal "to coordinate
the operation and developing of an emerging
global network".
Cuba's 1991 connection to the Internet
was initiated by APC affiliate Canadian
NGO Web Networks, forerunner to Web/Nirv.
"We created an information tunnel through
the American blockade," explained Mark
Surman, former technical director of Web
Networks. "Our computers would make
a long distance call to the computers of
the Cuban Center of Automated Exchange (CENIAI),
about three times a day to pick up and deliver
mail. This is called a store-and-forward
system. Then this traffic was gatewayed
to the rest of the Internet."
When Cubans replaced Canadians as the islands'
access provider, Fidel Castro's government
became the gatekeeper for access and content.
For the past 40 years, the Torricelli Law
has restricted Cuba from purchasing goods
from subsidiaries of U.S. companies.
The Tides Foundation is a charity.
Under American regulations currently applying
to tax-exempt, not-for-profit organizations,
IGC "has had to openly pronounce that
its networks are for educational and charitable
purposes only."
Under usage rules in the ICG manual, it
states "the network shall not be used
in any substantial way to carry on propaganda,
to influence legislation or to intervene
in any political campaign.
"It may be used, however, to discuss
in a non-partisan way, legislation, politicians
and campaigns. Only up to five percent of
the total resource time of staff may go
to working on political causes and towards
lobbying efforts."
Canada, upon which Cuba's tax system is
based, maintains a much softer stance on
the Castro regime. Not only was Cuba's tax
system built with the direct advice of Revenue
Canada, Canada has been doing business with
the island since 1959. Canadians, with an
estimated 500,000 visits this year, make
up the largest single tourist group to Cuba.
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi
McLeod is an award-winning journalist with
30 years experience in the media. A former
Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist,
she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the
Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net
Daily. Judi can be reached at: cfp@canadafreepress.com.
Copyright
© 2004 Canada Free Press
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