Cubans Get Home Computers

New President Raul Castro lifts the ban on Cubans owning home computers – but the Internet remains out of bounds.

Cuba is definitely changing. A few weeks ago President Raul Castro allowed Cubans to legally own mobile phones. Now the ban on them owning home computers has been lifted, slowly bringing Cuba intothe modern age.   The emphasis is definitely on slowly, however. With computers selling there for $800 when most people make $20 a month, they’re not likely to be lining up five deep tomake purchases. But, according to a BBC report, people did come out to the Carlos III shopping center to view the machines in stores.   Since those livingoutside the island do send money home, it’s possible that more people than anticipated might be buying PCs. It’s still unlikely that most of them will have Internet access, though. Atpresent that’s restricted to universities, schools and a few businesses because connections are by satellite, making it expensive and with limited bandwidth.   The government has claimedthat the US trade embargo has prevented the laying of an undersea cable that would make wider Internet access possible. The logistics of that problem will change soon, as Venezuela is putting a cablein place. Whether the Cuban government will then allow its people open Internet access remains to be seen, however.