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