Reply #72: Obama initiated some changes in US policy towards Cuba

[reorg]

but, at least according to this author in Foreign Policy, not enough to make better internet access feasible:

... In April 2009, Obama's announcement that he would relax regulations governing U.S. telecom activities in Cuba was met with tremendous expectation. In revising the regulations, Obama said he hoped to "help bridge the gap among divided Cuban families and promote the freer flow of information... to the Cuban people." Despite what appeared to be an opening, there was not so much as a peep of opposition from traditional anti-Castro groups -- which generally frown upon Washington softening toward Cuba. On the island, it was met with relief. In December of that year, Yoani Sánchez declared optimistically that the "period of silence is coming to an end. Now we must bring the power of the Internet and Twitter to all citizens."

Moreover, as a recent Cuba Study Group, Americas Society/Council of the Americas, and Brookings Institution report notes, greater Internet access to the Internet for average Cubans would help set the stage for technically and economically empowering Cuban citizens for the eventual transition away from its anachronistic, decrepit economy to a more globally integrated market system -- a huge step in a country with only a 16 percent Internet penetration rate, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere.

But something was lost between Obama's hopeful words and the marching orders given to regulators. The final regulations prohibited export licenses for anything that could be considered "domestic infrastructure," such as cell-phone towers, satellites, wireless routers, even cell phones. Worse, the sale of items such as SIM cards, PDAs, laptop and desktop computers, USB flash drives, Bluetooth equipment, and wireless Internet devices remain prohibited. For long-suffering Cubans it was as if the U.S. government had given them a certificate that could only be redeemed outside the island. Without these physical elements, Internet and mobile connectivity remain a pipe dream for many Cubans. For now, all that really remains changed is the possibility for telecom representatives (but not representatives of what can be deemed infrastructure companies) to travel to Cuba and the possibility for the licensing of roaming agreements.

Between "domestic infrastructure" and all the items banned for export, there's little room for any real U.S. business activity that could link the island to the Internet and provide citizens with the tools of communication. Instead, the provisions only allow for the donation of these items, rendering a critical foreign-policy objective to philanthropy. ...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/15/havana_calling?page=0,1


According to Reuters, even the Venezuelan fiber optic cable project had to take into account US sanctions:

"A Chinese subsidiary of French company Alcatel-Lucent is supplying the cable. French vessel Ile de Batz will lay the line which contains less than 10 percent U.S. product, thereby meeting U.S. embargo specifications. However, under the embargo the ship will not be able to dock in the United States for six months after putting up in Cuba."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/18/us-cuba-internet-idUSTRE70H5ZZ20110118