A man in Cuba chats on his new cell phone this Friday, a foreign sight. (Source: AP)
Cubans say hello to some new little friends.
In an interesting twist, Cuba just approved the use of cell phones,
after a ban throughout long-time ruler Fidel Castro's regime.
With Fidel's departure last month and his brother, Raul Castro,
assuming leadership of the island nation, some small but noteworthy
changes are occurring. First, Raul allowed microwaves, and now
he is allowing cell phones.
Cuba still operates under a
communist bureaucracy that controls what items people can have.
This hinders everything from internet access to home ownership.
In the past, only an elite group of Cubans owned cell phones.
Many Cubans hope that more changes are to come. While some
dissidents fear the government will use
the new cell phones to snoop on them, most assume that the
government already does.
Elizabeth, a middle-aged housewife
told the Associated Press that she had already owned a cell
phone, but had been forced to live in fear of discovery. She
said of the development, "Finally. We have waited too long for
this."
The new cell phone plans will be very expensive,
though, billed in more valuable convertible pesos. Some
residents like Juan Quiala, a retiree on a $10 a month government
pension, remain rather cynical about the government and the state of
the country in general. Says Quiala, "I'd love one!
But how am I going to pay for it? Suddenly, there will be a lot
more people talking on the phone, but not much else will change."
In
Cuba, the government controls 90 percent of the economy. Most
citizens are provided with free housing and are given ration cards to
cover food needs. Quality is often an issue, though. Most
Cubans make less than $20 a month.
Only corporate customers
will be able to use internet-equipped
smart phones on Cuban networks. Cuba also is making no
effort to control camera phones, despite their previous use to show
oppression occurring in Tibet and Myanmar. Of course, at the
first sign of trouble, the government could easily shut the phones
off.
The news of the new cell phone policy was announced
Friday in the Communist Party newspaper Granma. The
Cuban government is contracting with Italy's Telecom Italia to
provide services. Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A.,
or ETECSA, has invested heavily in installing fiber optics across
Cuba, and feels that its ready to handle Cuba's shift to modern
communication.
ETECSA hopes to make enough profit to offer
cell phones in normal pesos to customers in the near future.
Currently a few phone models from Nokia and Motorola are available
for sale. Phones cost as much as $280, which is a lot
considering the average monthly salary of Cubans.
Cuba also
announced a decree that it will finally sell PCs, DVD players, car
alarms and televisions of all sizes. These items previously
only were allowed to foreigners and corporations. Citizens are
ecstatic about many of the developments. Says Jorge Chavez, "We
are progressing with the world. Progress had to reach us,
too."
While Raul Castro insisted that he will not alter
Cuba's underlying communist political or economic policies, he has
stated that he will try to make average Cubans' lives more bearable
through modest policy changes. He states that he understand the
rough situation many Cubans live in, with much of the country living
in poverty.
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