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Cuba
An island in the Caribbean that has almost no internet access, but may have moar soon thanks to Venezuela
- Founded By: Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
- Known For: Hemingway, Old Cars, Rum, Cigars, and Bars
- First Found: 10/1868
Summary
Cuba is an island in the Caribbean just off the coast of Florida. But Cubans and Americans can't freely travel among one another, because the U.S. has an embargo on the country. Cuba is known for its beautiful beaches, Ernest Hemingway, killer sandwiches, and revolutionaries (while Che Guevara is from Argentina, he made his home in Cuba and worked for the Cuban government).
Only like 2-3% of the people on Cuba can access the internet, and speeds are notoriously slow. Most Cubans instead can access an intranet that allows e-mail and has an encyclopedia on Cuba. Cubans who do get to look at the internet are approved by the central government, and they can't post dissent. But that may change soon...
Cuba has some well known bloggers, including Yoani Sánchez
Origins
Cuba was a colony of Spain. The United States declared war on Spain and seized its colonial posessions, including Cuba. Cuba nominally got independence, but became dominated by the U.S. Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista, the previous US-backed dictator. Then the relations with the US soured, and the US put Cuba in an embargo which still exists today. Cuba's benefactor, the Soviet Union, enriched the country until the Soviet Union collapsed. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba's standard of living collapsed. If you go to Florida and talk to Cuban-Americans, they will talk about how much they hate the Castro brothers and what they did to Cuba. Many of the earliest post-Batista immigrants were capitalists who found that Castro had seized their land.
The thing is, Cuba's only telephone line goes to the US, and what doesn't go through the US must go through a satellite, making things expensive. Fortunately, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela is having an internet cable built from Cuba to Venezuela, so Cuba may get faster internet speed.
Current status
Waiting for Venezuela to finish its internet link
Images
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 Yoani Sánchez, Cuba's premier blogger |
Related Pages
External Links
You can find additional subcultures here.
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