Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Odds and ends



·         New York Times: GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, leaving his anti-embargo voting record behind, visited Versailles on Calle Ocho and explained how his Cuban-American colleagues helped him see the light.  And maybe they believe him.

 ·         Prensa Latina: Cuba’s justice ministry says it has handled the paperwork for 45,000 real estate transfers through the end of August – sales, swaps, and donations.

·         Venezuelan journalist Nelson Bocaranda says that representatives of the Venezuelan opposition candidate were received in Havana by President Raul Castro and Vice President Machado Ventura to discuss “future Cuban cooperation.”

·         Along the Malecon publishes the National Endowment for Democracy’s latest list of Cuba grants.  And USAID’s administrator told the Herald that he doesn’t see his Cuba program as “aid for the opposition.”

·         In the New York Times Magazine, a long article about a trip to Cuba by an American who married into a Cuban family.

·         The BBC’s Fernando Ravsberg says that widespread Internet access in Cuba is inevitable, whether provided by the government or by “its enemies.”

2 comments:

Antonio said...

I found it interesting that the NY Times Magazine guy chose to hide his wife's hometown in Cubs. I guessed it is somewhere between Matanzas and Remedios, based on the article.

Anonymous said...

If internet access is provided by the government, it would not really solve a great deal because censorship would be implanted, spying on the internet navigation of individuals would be applied and all those that visited forbidden web sites or sent messages that the Cuban government found objectionable would be subject to temporary or permanent suspensions of internet access, fines or jail time.

The real solution would be direct access to satellite internet for at least a few Cubans who could avoid identification and have unhindered access to the internet.

These few unidentified Cubans could then organize internal distribution of information and help to break the government monopoly of information.

When this information would become more accessible, public opinion would begin to gradually evolve, the opposition would begin to gain public support and to carry out massive public protests that would eventually do away with the totalitarian regime.

Access through government internet providers would be a small step forward and provide some progress but a very limited one since the government would be able through regulations, supervision and sanctions to gradually limit the free flow of information.

If rapid reforms are desired in the island, direct access to satellite internet for opposition activists would be the solution.

To be effective in promoting rapid reforms internet access must be able to somehow bypass Cuban government controls.

While ssome of these controls subsist, progress would be slow at best.

Cantaclaro