The economic damages and losses caused by the U.S. blockade on Cuba, particularly within the system of the Ministry of Communications (MICOM), only from August 2021 to February 2022 reached the figure of 104,155,170 USD, said Wilfredo Gonzalez Vidal, first deputy minister of that institution, in Havana.
In this period, as in previous ones, the Cuban Telephone Company (ETECSA) continues being the most affected by registering a figure of 53,957,100 USD, which represents approximately 51.8% of the referred total amount, said the high official in exclusive statements to the Cuban News Agency.
Gonzalez Vidal said that in the absence of the unfair economic, commercial and financial siege imposed by the United States on Cuba, the dynamism and speed with which the current digital transformation process would be carried out would be different.
In spite of the criminal policy, the country continues broadening access to the Internet and knowledge, and today we have 7.8 million mobile telephony users and almost seven million of them access the Internet through this important channel, he informed.
The first deputy minister explained that the damages and economic losses caused to the Communications System as a result of the blockade are evident in the whole sector: in Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Postal Services.
He specified that there are significant effects due to the limitations in the supply of technologies and equipment produced under license or using American components, which makes it necessary to resort to other markets, much more distant, an obstacle for which the greatest effects on the sector are quantified.
Gonzalez Vidal also stated that due to the economic siege and the inclusion of Cuba in the list of nations sponsoring terrorism, Internet access connectivity is more expensive and access to certain platforms and technologies is prohibited.
The senior official recalled that in November 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice recommended to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny a permit for the installation of the first submarine telecommunications cable, which would connect the U.S. with Cuba.
Such action violates the right of Cubans to use the international telecommunications service, limiting access to the Internet, the use of information, the exchange and creation of knowledge as a good of all Humanity.
(Taken from ACN)
