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E-mail
now available to Cubans
E-mail
accounts are now available in Cuba for the average citizen,
provided he or she can pay in dollars.
The Cuban
Post Office Station No. 6, in Havana, is offering e-mail accounts
—although not Internet access— over its computers
for $4.50 for a three-hour card, which converts into pesos
as 35 per cent of the monthly salary of the average Cuban.
One of
the first persons to open an account was Manuel David Orrio,
an independent journalist who sent e-mails to various acquaintances
overseas. When he checked his e-mail a few days later, he
was overjoyed to find 25 messages from the United States,
Latin America and Europe, many of them expressing surprise
that he had access to e-mail.
Orrio
said in an article that, so far, access to the Internet has
limitations. Users cannot print out the messages received
nor pre-write messages on a diskette to save time.
“If
you can send electronic correspondence from the post office,
why not from your home for those who can pay?” Orrio
asked. “What do we have against connecting to the Internet
just like you can at station No. 6?”
From
the CubaNet news service
CubaNet
is a non-partisan and non-profit organization that fosters
a free press in Cuba.
Links to related sites
CubaNet
Granma, Órgano
oficial del Partido Comunista de Cuba
Granma Internacional
Prensa Latina
Juventud Rebelde
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