Cuban Faces 2017: Alexei Gámez, Computer Scientist

Alexei Gámez, computer scientist (Courtesy)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 27 December 2017 – A resident of Jagüey Grande in Matanzas, Alexei Gámez (b. 1981, Matanzas) has contributed to enabling a locality where almost three hundred residents connect to each other through wireless networks to exchange content, chat and enjoy audiovisual material without having to be connected to Internet.

This computer engineer specializing in cybersecurity jumped into the public realm this year thanks to his videos on YouTube in which he promotes the use of devices such as Nanostation and Mikrotik to manage Wi-Fi networks, an important task in a country where thousands of users access alternative virtual communities each day, among which SNet stands out as the most powerful of the networks not connected to the internet.

The Youtuber was arrested after an intense police search at his home and was threatened by an officer who accused him of the crime of “illegal economic activity” because he allegedly charged for the service, something that the computer expert denies outright. Hours after his arrest he was released and the property seized from him was returned in part, but he must still sign in at the police station every week.

Gámez was one of the candidates who recently vied for the presidency of the Somos+ (We Are More) Movement, which Eliécer Ávila finally won when he was elected to a second term through the internal elections of the organization. The Somos+ Movement is a political group not recognized by the government, which, since 2013, is committed to a peaceful change in the political system and relies on new technologies to promote its proposals.

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