Havana, Sep 30 (Prensa Latina) The economic blockade imposed against Cuba by the United States government limits access to social networks and the Internet, a policy that is rejected worldwide and one which Cubans are trying to overcome.
The Computing and Electronics Club for Cuban Youth (JCCE) has made it possible for its users to browse sites within the .cu domain, and also facilitates interaction through social networks like Cuba’s Tendedera, or Haciendo Almas.
At Cuban universities, alternatives like Neko at the Central University of Villa Clara and Dreamcatchers in Camaguey, are examples.
Despite the serious limitations imposed by the blockade, in recent years Cuba has managed to develop a wide array of Cuban websites, said Cuban blogger Lorenzo Yanes from his personal site at the “Revolutionary Bloggers and Correspondents” platform.
He affirmed that with the creation of the JCCE, a process of computerization in Cuban society has begun, with new alternatives emerging, like access to the national Intranet.
Meanwhile Rosa Fonseca, provincial deputy director of Computerization in Santiago de Cuba, 860 kilometers east of Havana, told the Cuban News Agency that the greatest strength of the Youth Computing Club is in its workers, who provide significant innovative contributions to keep the service running.
She stated that access to query reference programs like Symantec, Google, Reference and Oracle is very complex, because the license to use these tools is supposed to be paid to US companies.
In the so-called “new economy” the United States is one of the main generators of products and services, yet despite its proximity to Cuba, the blockade prohibits these companies from selling their products to the island.
Every year since 1992, the Cuban government delegation at the United Nations (UN) has questioned the blockade.
In 2012 and 2013, 188 of the 193 UN members voted against that policy and demanded that the United States lift it.
By Nuriem de Armas
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