Cuban government dollarizes the internet: ‘This measure is true digital apartheid’

First their electricity was cut off. Then, gradually, the rationed food that arrived at the neighborhood grocery stores dwindled. The value of their currency declined. Limits were placed on store purchases. And now, indirectly, internet access is being restricted. The Cuban government’s latest measure has opened up a gap between citizens who can afford the service and those who can’t. The new “tariff increase” by ETECSA, the state-owned company that holds the monopoly on communications on the island, has increased connectivity costs so much that some Cubans would have to work more than a month just to check Facebook, send WhatsApp messages, or do a search on Google. That means paying 3,360 pesos (about $9) for 3 gigabytes, when the minimum monthly wage in the country remains at 2,100 pesos (about $5). Many citizens are particularly upset. And Cubans in exile feel deeply defrauded. The government, hungry for dollars, has dealt them all one final blow.

The news broke on Friday, sparking a national unrest that has united some state institutions, artists, opponents, and emigrants in a shared feeling of outrage. People in Cuba are already putting up with countless hours of blackouts, food scarcity, and a lack of freedoms, but nothing in recent months has exasperated them quite as much as the fact that they must now restrict, and in some cases entirely cancel, their internet access. Amid the crises of all kinds they face, connecting to a cell phone has allowed them to cope with the lack of electricity, bridge the gap with family members living abroad, and escape the tedium and anguish of life in a collapsing country. The internet gave Cubans the opportunity to stay informed, to go beyond the limits of the island, to question their daily lives, and to speak out. It was a treasure they were given, and now, in a way, it is being taken away from them.

In a statement released just before the weekend, ETECSA informed its customers that starting May 30, “new measures” would be implemented that involve changes to the prices of balance top-ups, consumer plans, and cell service packages. From now on, customers will only be able to purchase service in Cuban pesos up to a limit of 360 CUP ($0.97) over a 30-day period. The rest of the time, they will be forced to purchase their internet hours in dollars.

Although it has become somewhat more accessible to the population since 2018, internet services in Cuba have never been an option for everyone, just for those who can afford it or who have relatives abroad who can guarantee their phone top-ups. Today, according to official figures, 75% of internet traffic on the island is supported by mobile services. Among the 7.3 million Cubans who are connected, the average monthly consumption reaches 9.9 GB per user.

However, many people will now be less likely to have online access. “Who is going to pay for these extremely expensive plans? A portion of the private sector, which operates under countless restrictions, and Cuban emigrants, who are largely the result of the lack of opportunities here,” Cuban economist Ricardo Torres, a former researcher at the Center for Cuban Economic Studies and professor at the American University in Washington, told El PAÍS.

Criticism, this time, also comes from the state

The so-called “trade measures” are, according to the government, “necessary” for “the sustainability of the telecommunications infrastructure, to continue supporting the country’s development, and to guarantee cybersecurity and the quality of services to the people,” in the words of Mayra Arevich Marín, Cuban Minister of Telecommunications. But this argument convinces nobody, and discontent is emerging in the form of public complaints from state institutions such as the University Student Federation (FEU), several schools at the University of Havana, and the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), as well as articles published in the official press expressing concern for students, doctors, educators and other professionals in need of this tool.

Cubans in exile know that, once again, the government in Havana is placing the burden on their shoulders. For years, Cuban exiles have been sending remittances — one of the main injections of money into the stifled island economy — along with care packages full of clothes, food, and even medicine. Lately, they have also been purchasing power generators to alleviate the days without electricity. This latest measure by ETECSA feels like yet another blow to the emigrants’ pockets.

Saily González Velázquez, a 34-year-old entrepreneur living in Washington and whose parents live back in Santa Clara, in the center of the island, tells this newspaper that the move is a “mechanism of blackmail and direct exploitation” for those who are forced to emigrate. “They treat us like ATMs. They expelled us from our families and then demand that we give them our dollars, taking advantage of our feelings of guilt,” she says. “On the other hand, life is also very expensive here in the United States. Almost three years after being here, I still count every dollar and look for products on sale when I go to supermarkets. Losing ten dollars hurts.”

Velázquez says the impact on her family is twofold. “First, the humiliation of having to ask me for even more money to communicate with me and entertain themselves a little during the blackouts,” she says. “Then, having to use some of the money I send them to give to those who separated us. Because both my mom and dad are aware of that.”

Even so, the young woman is even more concerned about the people who have no one to help them. “The elderly we see on social media begging and collecting food from garbage dumps, the mothers we hear complaining about not having the means to meet their children’s needs, the sick who have no medicine. This measure leaves them even more vulnerable, because as the demand for dollars increases, their price will rise, and with it the price of food, as is always the case. These people, unable to pay for these data packages, will no longer be able to even ask for help on social media as they do now. It’s a blow that transcends our immediate families and deepens inequality and exclusion for an entire population.”

“An economy in crisis and a dysfunctional model”

The latest announcement by ETECSA is yet another desperate attempt by the Havana government to stay afloat, as it has done with the recent economic “packages,” which have also put Cuban families at a disadvantage.

And although it had already been announced, no one expected such an extreme measure. At the end of last year, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz announced that the telecommunications company would increase rates starting in 2025 to “develop and sustain the telecommunications services network.”

In April, ETECSA acknowledged that it did not have enough foreign currency to sustain itself. “Our sources of income in foreign currency have been seriously affected,” Kevin Castro Rodríguez, deputy director of the company’s Network Operations Vice Presidency, stated publicly. Now, authorities have gone in search of this currency, like other sectors in the country, which have gradually become dollarized. Payments in dollars have been introduced in some wholesale trade outlets, some retail stores, fuel sales, and other services, leaving establishments that operate in the national currency completely undersupplied.

Torres believes the underlying problem is “an economy in crisis and a dysfunctional model” that seeks dollars but fails to stimulate production. “The fact that a telecommunications monopoly is an instrument for raising foreign currency for a state, and that this foreign currency does not originate (primarily) from domestic productive activity, clearly tells us about the level of dysfunction we have in Cuba,” he argues. “The irresponsible and erratic economic policies implemented for years are leading the island to a dead end, which undoubtedly fuels discontent among broad social groups. Emigrants themselves feel extorted. We are deprived of political and economic rights, yet our dollars are desperately sought.”

For now, some Cubans have said they are withdrawing from social media, refusing to recharge their accounts, and even refusing to accept recharges from their relatives abroad. Saily González Velázquez, for her part, has called for a “total halt to recharges to Cuba,” which has been welcomed by many inside and outside the country. “This measure is true digital apartheid,” she says. “I am not willing to hand over dollars so they can continue repressing and reinforcing control. I believe this strike is the only effective and concrete action we can take as the diaspora to force the Cuban government to reverse this abusive measure that affects, above all, the most vulnerable.”

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