Cuba ends censorship — NOT

Posted on Friday, 06.20.14

Cuba ends censorship — NOT
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

For a brief and shinning moment, it seemed that Cuba had unblocked
access to several websites censored for years because of their
criticisms of the government, including the U.S. government's Radio/TV
Marti.

And it wasn't even April Fools' Day.

On Thursday afternoon, Cuba's Web surfers began noticing that they had
access to Radio/TV Marti; Cubanet in Miami, which publishes work by
independent and dissident journalists; and the Spain-based
Cubaencuentro, also critical of the government.

Also unblocked were Twitter, Skype and Revolico, a portal for Cuban
classified ads blocked apparently because it competes with state-run
stores on the island nation, according to several Havana residents and
Miami contacts.

The Raúl Castro government never said a word, and Cuba watchers began
wondering whether Havana had taken a step forward in allowing more
freedom of information in the Communist-ruled island nation.

Nope.

By Friday afternoon, the blocks were back in place, and there were
unconfirmed reports that their brief removal had been the result of a
mistake on the part of a Cuban government technician.

"Everything seems to indicate that it was an error," wrote Alejandro
Ulloa, who first reported the lifting of the blocks, in a tweet Friday
around 5 p.m. "In other word, yes, these sites are prohibited for Cubans."

Source: Cuba ends censorship — NOT - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/20/4191145/cuba-lifts-censorship-on-critical.html