14ymedio.com

The small but intense community of independent tweeters on the Island, comprising a little fewer than two hundred people, has spent years demanding that facilities be offered for publication via text messages.

Cuba officials, according to Crowell, are open to the change. Although there is not yet a date for a meeting on the Island to formalize the agreement, Twitter management hopes that the negotiations will take place “as soon as possible.”

Following the announcement of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington last December, several technology companies are sounding out the terrain to gain a foothold on the island.

According to several US media, Google presented a proposal to the Cuban Government to participate in the infrastructure on the Island. Representatives of the company, on a business trip in Havana this week, however, did not confirm the news.

Twitter stresses that there a strong interest among users on issues tied to the Island, both among Cubans in exile as well as in the hemisphere in general. “We want to do everything we can to increase the possibilities for Cubans to make their voices heard,” added Crowell. “We would love to have more Cuban voices on our platform.”

“The risk of increasing the number of such prisoners remains dormant since the regime continues to criminalize the exercise of all civil and political rights and other fundamental rights through an archaic Penal Code which, in its origins, was a mere copy, quasi-plagiarized, of that of the former Soviet Union,” Sanchez said.

The organization denounces the fact that many political prisoners are in jail under the legal concept of pre-criminal social dangerousness, an “unlawful monstrosity” according to the CCDHRN, which indicates that the people interned “are essentially innocent” and that the actions imputed to them do not constitute crimes, but are based on a “simple police presumption.”

“The risk of increasing the number of such prisoners remains dormant since the regime continues to criminalize the exercise of all civil and political rights”

This presumption by the authorities leads to “very summary trials, in which there is no need for proof through oral or material evidence or documentation of any other kind.”

The CCDHRN also recalls the case of the eleven former prisoners of conscience from the Group of 75 — imprisoned during the crackdown of the Black Spring of 2003 – released on parole but prevented from leaving the country.

They also demand the release “on humanitarian grounds” of 21 prisoners for “crimes against the state” carrying between 12 and 23 years in prison in “extreme conditions.”

The CCDHRN is the only organization in Cuba that undertakes a counting of political prisoners in the country; although they admit that counting an exhaustive list is very difficult because the Cuban government is “closed and opaque” and only “a handful of senior officials know the exact numbers.”

The Government of Cuba considers the dissidents “counter-revolutionaries” and “mercenaries.”

The organization providing the test, the Educational Testing Service, has also announced plans to offer the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), an entrance exam required by many American universities for admission to graduate studies, despite the logistical obstacles stemming from the lack of technological infrastructure and financing in the country. This latter test will be given in October.

According to José Santiago, head of the GRE exam for the Educational Testing Service, this testing schedule reflects the interests of American universities in enrolling Cuban students after the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana.

For now, no additional testing dates are scheduled on the Island. “There are still many issues to resolve,” explains Santiago, adding that he is working with two Cuban universities to turn their computer classrooms into sites for the official exams.

Students who want to take the tests confront several obstacles, including paying by credit card and the poor quality of the equipment for the listening tests.

Wireless networks will be accessible in the locations under the name of WIFI_ETECSA, like those already operating under this name in the international terminal of Havana’s Jose Marti Airport, and in several hotels in the country. All those who have an account – temporary or permanent – with Etesca’s Nauta service will be able to access it through cellphones, personal computers, tablets or other technological devices with wireless signal receivers.

Another welcome announcement has been the reduction in price for an hour of navigation time, which as of July 1^st will be 2 CUC versus the current 4.50 CUC, although in recent months reloads have been offered at half that price. Diaz Naranjo acknowledged, however, that “it is still not the target price,” in a country where the average monthly salary doesn’t exceed the equivalent of 30 CUC.

The official clarified that it is not a new service, but “a new method of access” for what is offered today in Etecsa’s public navigation rooms and at the Computing and Electronics Youth Clubs.

In the interview, Diaz Naranjo specified that the connection speed could reach 1 megabyte per user and that the number of people who can navigate at the same time could vary between 50 and 100, according to the size of the area included in the wireless network.

The 35 places that will implement this WiFi signal in Havana are: La Rampa, from the Malecon to Yara Cinema; La Lisa park located on Avenue 51; Fe del Valle park, on Galiano and San Rafael; the Marianao Amphitheater; and the Paseo de la Villa Panamerica. In Pinar del Rio: Independencia and Roberto Amarán parks. Artemisa: Boulevard and de la Iglesia park. Mayabeque: Guines Park and Boulevard de San Jose. Matanzas: Liberty and Peñas Altas parks. Villa Clara: Leoncio Vidal and Remedios parks.

The city of Cienfuegos will have wireless navigation in Martí Park and Rápido Punta Gorda. Sancti Spíritus: Céspedes, de Trinidad, and Serafín Sánchez parks. Ciego de Ávila: Martí and Morón parks. Camagüey: Agramonte Park and Plaza del Gallo. Las Tunas: Plaza Martiana and Tanque de Buena Vista. Holguín: Calixto García and Julio Grave de Peralta parks. Granma: Boulevards Bayamo and Manzanillo. Santiago de Cuba: Céspedes, Ferreiro and Plaza de Marte parks. Guantánamo: Martí Park and Baracoa Central Park. Isla de la Juventud: Boulevard Nueva Gerona.

Etecsa also plans to make adjustments to the Enet and Nauta email platforms, which today have more than 800,000 users across the country. The email service will be interrupted in the early morning of June 23, which has triggered speculations among the public about the possibility of the coming of mobile connections to the web.

In a call to the service number 118, an operator explained to this newspaper that the reason for the planned suspension on the 23^rd was for transferring the platform, which is moving “from its current site in the capital’s Cubanacan neighborhood, to another located in Fontanar.”

For some weeks, in the early morning hours, users accessing Nauta service from their cellphones could experience a change in the message access protocols such as IMAP and POP. During the hours of lower traffic, the directions for downloading emails will appear redirected to the Enet service, an Internet connection option for foreigners, businesses and foreign press correspondents residing on the Island.

In recent days two directors from the Google giant, Bret Perlmutter, of Google Ideas, and Brehanna Zwart, of Google Access and Energy, have been in Cuba. Several American publications announced last week that the company had made a proposal to the Cuban government to participate in the Island’s connectivity infrastructure.