The US is considering ways to provide the people of Cuba with internet access, President Biden said on Thursday. The Cuban government reportedly cut off internet access in response to protests that took place earlier in the week, but according to AFP, the access was restored Wednesday, although social media sites are still restricted.
“They have cut off access to the internet. We are considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that access,” Biden said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
It’s not clear how the US would provide internet inside Cuba since the government would likely view it as a violation of sovereignty. Biden made the comments after Florida Governor Ron Desantis sent the president a letter urging for the federal government to take action to restore the internet. Desantis insisted that the technology to do it remotely exists.
“Technology exists to provide Internet access into Cuba remotely, using the innovation of American enterprise and the diverse industries here,” Desantis wrote. He drew parallels to the Cold War when the US government-funded radio broadcasting into the Soviet Union.
“Similar to the American efforts to broadcast radio into the Soviet Union during the Cold War in Europe, the federal government has a history of supporting the dissemination of information into Cuba for the Cuban people through Radio & Televisión Martí, located in Miami,” he said.
Radio & Televisión Martí is a US state-funded radio broadcaster that started in the 1980s to transmit news into Cuba. It was based on the model of Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty, which was initially funded by the CIA and broadcast in Soviet states.
“I urge you to act immediately to provide all necessary authorizations, indemnifications, and funding to American businesses with the capability to provide Internet access for the people of Cuba. Steps must be taken immediately,” Desantis wrote.
On Tuesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the US of inciting unrest in Cuba through a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #SOSCuba. It’s not clear if the US government was involved in the Twitter campaign, but Washington has a history of trying to use social media to stir unrest in Cuba.
In 2010, the US launched a social media network in Cuba that used text messages known as ZunZuneo. US government documents revealed in 2014 showed that the idea of the project was to develop a “Cuban Twitter” that would build a userbase using “non-controversial content.” Then, when there were a substantial number of users, the US operator would introduce political content to form “smart mobs” to rally against the government.
ZunZuneo reached a peak of 40,000 users, but was dissolved in 2012. While it sounds like a CIA project, ZunZuneo was funded by the US Agency for International Development.
Elon Musk is asked to enable free satellite internet in Cuba during protests
I’m beginning to wonder about Biden, for Free Internet For Cuba appears to be one of his dumber ideas.
True, if for no other reason than that Musk’s satellite Internet setup requires dedicated dishes/routers that ordinary Cubans don’t have and are unlikely to be able to get.
Don`t worry the CIA will air drop what ever kit is needed.
Providing Cuba with WiFi is a bad idea. WiFi, like all forms of wireless technology, emits radiation which is toxic to human beings. Cuba is better off without it.
USAID = CIA, or close enough for government work, anyway
Thats correct. USAID was inaugurated in the 70s IIRC to whitewash CIA propaganda effots under a benign sounding name.
The only reason Biden wants to provide WiFi is for propaganda purposes , a coup is definatley on the cards for Cuba.
The US will try, again.
The best argument against the US coup attempts has always been what the US did in and to Cuba whenever it had the power to do so, as with Batista and the long economic war since.
The US could have absorbed the place into its own economy, with its local oddities falling away. We still could.
The Soviet use of Cuba as a forward base was an issue used to block intelligent alternatives. That has been gone for three decades, at least. Enough.
i remember when Castro took over in 1959. He killed a lot of people then and millions fled. 62 years of dictatorship,is enough. The left wants to do the same to this country.
Perhaps a different reading of history from that of your USA colonial masters. would open your eyes.
Ahem… u got rolled by the taliban and vc u can’t do anything there without mass mobilization even then it’s not a certainty with ur obese population against a people who love their country despite all it’s fault
How about WiFi for everyone at home?
War before life at home. Guns before butter.
perhaps the Cubans could help…
Try lifting the 243 extra sanctions Trump put on Cuba and perhaps your lovely democratic governments’ 60 years of cruelty to Cuba.
…but isnt interfering in other nations affairs wrong? Or does that only depend on who’s doing the interfering? Americans? Meh? Russians Iranians, Chinese? Casus belli!
First there is Miguel Diaz-Canel and his anti Israeli speech in the UN that got the media fire up against Havana. Then there is Russia wanting to build a base in Cuba in addition to Venezuela and Nicaragua. Recipe for invasion
How about Cuba cut off internet to Florida…?!