CUBA NEWS
September 1, 2004

FROM CUBA Six Internet cafes closed in Camag�ey 23836

HAVANA, Cuba, August 29 (Ariel Delgado, UPECI / cubanet.sergipeconectado.com) - Government authorities closed six Internet cafes in Camagey, saying they "didn't fulfill any social objective."

The cafes, run by the Cuban Postal service, offered e-mail service at a rate of 3 dollars an hour, or 78 pesos. The average salary in Cuba, according to official statistics, is on the order of 250 pesos a month. The cost also has to be seen in light of the fact that s are not allowed to take in diskettes, so that outgoing messages have to be typed while the hour runs.

Only one outlet now remains open in the provincial capital, at the main offices of ETECSA, the Cuban phone company. The cost there has gone up from 3 to 6 dollars an hour.

In spite of the government's "social objective" statement, the six cafes usually had long lines of customers waiting to use the service.

A young of the service commented: "So, communicating with one's family is not a 'social objective.' Maybe they would rather we use the medium to promote the freedom of the Five (five Cubans imprisoned in the U. S. after being convicted of spying) but all I want to know is how my family is, my mother and my brothers, and what is happening with the paperwork for getting me out."

Versin original en espaol

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