Cuba Inside View #11

Warning: Cuba is under the control of a totalitarian state with the only objective of keeping the power at any cost. This report will show you the actual situation in Cuba, that one that the state propaganda tries to deny.

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Today's post cannot be subdivided into the usual aspects (politics, social, economy) because it is an issue intrinsically linked to all three aspects. On May 30th, following some "corrections" made by Cuba's sole telecommunications company (monopoly), the country woke up to the news of the effective limitation of internet access.

The Cuban Telecommunications Company S.A. (ETECSA) implemented a rate increase that generated widespread discontent among the population. Had this adjustment been implemented in another country, the Cuban government would have characterized it as a neoliberal adjustment and shown support for the social protests that arose against it. However, since they are the ones implementing it, they have shifted to a different rhetoric.

The package consisted of establishing basic plans with a maximum of 6 GB of internet per month for mobile data. Those who want to consume more must pay sums almost triple the average monthly salary in the country or pay for the service in dollars.

Keep in mind that the country's average monthly salary is just 4,000 pesos (10.6 USD).

This unleashed a wave of indignation among a population already suffering from the precariousness of basic public services (lack of electricity, food, and medicine) and seeing this as another nail in the coffin of social welfare. The government launched a series of explanations that left more doubts and dissatisfaction than guarantees. This raised the tone of the complaints, with multiple university student groups issuing statements and demanding an end to price gouging.

This is where a gap arises between the government's rhetoric and its actions, which for a totalitarian government with little political capital to spare is a shot in the foot (and perhaps in the head).
Faced with the proposal to provide an extra 6 GB package to university students, many considered it a bribe in the form of crumbs and rejected this de facto solution to the real problem. With legitimate doubts about the narrative of a possible bankruptcy due to the company's debts or a possible collapse of the telecommunications infrastructure due to the lack of foreign currency income, university students from different university faculties across the country demanded transparency in the company's data.

As an extreme measure, a group of faculties called for a university strike until their demands were heard and resolved. It is worth noting that, despite government propaganda attempting to discredit these actions, while university officials, the Communist Party, and some members of military intelligence attempted to intimidate students by expelling them from their programs or initiating legal proceedings, they have remained steadfast and have even raised their demands. Now, they are no longer just demanding answers and actions from the telephone company, but also demanding the resignation of the deans who have disrespected them, as well as the presidents of the National Federation of University Students (FEU), and those at the university level who have yielded and failed to protect or defend the interests of the students they represent.

And while the opposition has used these displays of rebellion as a way to attack the government, it is completely false that the students are being financed from abroad. The press and state-funded spokespersons have been delegitimizing the demands, calling for blind obedience, and labeling actions and realities that actually occur and originate within the student community as fake news. They are even attempting to scare people by denouncing calls for the privatization of the university that no one has made.

This prompted President Miguel Diaz Canel, aka "El Singao" (whom many consider merely a puppet of the real powers-that-be), to try to convince people to endure the rate hike in silence after days of silence. He claimed that, as before, income in dollars will help improve service, but this is an excuse the people have heard before and know it's a lie becaude everything ends up being dollarized, and the people are still left helpless and without access to services or products.

The "president's" speech raised more doubts and questions.

• Where does ETECSA's money go?
• Why are those responsible for the company's financial collapse still in their management positions?
• If the company earns $31 per line per month and there are 8 million lines, how can a company that invoices more than $240 million per month and more than $2 billion annually be on the verge of bankruptcy or be unable to secure investment in telecommunications infrastructure?
• If it's a state-owned socialist enterprise owned by the people, why doesn't it listen to the people's demands?
• Why is the solution to the lack of foreign currency income to use the people as hostages to demand ransom from their relatives abroad? Digital prostitution would be another term.
• Where does the money come from for the children of ministers, officials, and select military personnel (including the daughter of the Minister of Communications) to study at European universities, paying for programs that cost between 10,000 and 30,000 euros per semester?

In a country where there are shortages of food, medicine, and basic public services, this blow to internet access may be the straw that breaks the camel's back for young Cubans. The truth is that the rupture, even if they keep it quiet, is complete. Only a few useful idiots remain on their side, who, for a few perks, promise to paint a commitment to the world that doesn't exist.

Final notes

This is all for today Cuba: Inside View, thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check the other reports here:

• https://peakd.com/ccc/yecier/cuba-reports