Cuba puts first computers on sale to the public

[Joanne98]

Source: AP

HAVANA (AP) — Cubans are getting wired. The island's communist government put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time Friday, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro.

A tower-style QTECH PC and monitor costs nearly US$780 (euro505). While few Cubans can afford that, dozens still gawked outside a tiny Havana electronics store, crowding every inch of its large glass windows and leaving finger and nose prints behind.

Inside, four clerks tore open boxes, hastily assembling display computers. By the time a sign went up listing the PCs specifications, more than a dozen shoppers were lined up to get in.

"Look at that!" murmured Armando Batista as he pressed against the window. Although he can't afford to buy one, he said, "these are good for a start."

The gray and black QTECHs, complete with DVD players, bulky CRT monitors and standard-issue black mice and keyboards, are the only model available.

The Cuban PCs have Intel Celeron processors with 80 gigabytes of memory and 512 RAM and are equipped with Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. Both could be violations of a U.S. trade embargo, but not something Washington can do anything about in the absence of diplomatic relations with Havana.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gG4bvAubvtUQd99TVnEOPW_CdpuQD90DORL81

[JeffR]

1. Yes, it's a start.

And the fact that these machines aren't shipping with Vista confirms that Cuba is more advanced than was widely thought.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Screw the trade embargo

If the USA won't ship then sure as hell other countries will fill the gap. There will probably be a running trade with holiday makers from Europe taking cheap laptops and leaving them there :rofl:

[LeftyMom]

3. My seven year old has a nicer computer than that.

$780 for an already outdated desktop? You can get a brand spanking new laptop for maybe $800, a desktop with those specs is pretty much free (people throw them out all the time.) For that price, I'm sure there will be thriving black market in no time, if there isn't already.

Somebody must be making a killing on those things.

[onehandle]

4. This late in the game, Cubans deserve Macs. nt

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. I have taken computers to Cuba,

An old Pentium III Compaq laptop for a weeks use of an apartment seemed like a pretty good deal,

I think there have to be a good number of privately owned computers in Cuba because alot of places seemed to be selling counterfeit video games.

[Judi Lynn]

6. That's great! You can be sure a computer would be wildly appreciated.

There are some American organizations like Pastors for Peace in NYC which take computers to Cuba yearly, as well as USA-Cuba-InfoMed, which takes computers for use in the medical community there.



http://www.cubasolidarity.net/whoarewe.html



Here's a blog from the 18th annual Cuba Caravan, in which several busloads of materials, including computers went once again to the border to take to Cuba. They've taken tons of computers there over the years, but they do get everything taken from them at both the Texas border and the Canadian border, and have a lot of trouble getting any of it released.

Many, many people have been involved in getting some of the deadly effects of the American embargo on Cuba lessened any way possible.

http://bp2.blogger.com/_4uCLTa3rBKY/Rq-Y2E2tlgI/AAAAAAAAAPc/VmPaMdHReGw/s400/ny+bus+2.jpg

New York Bus 2007

Blog:
http://18thcubacaravan.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

~~~~~~~~
Great 8 minute video from 1006 on what it's like to go in a Cuba caravan from the States. It's right beneath the opening article:

WONDER WHY GEORGE W. DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CUBAN PEOPLE?
Find out this July! Come with us to meet:

• A healthy people, with free health care, who live on average to age 77 – the same as the same as those in the U.S. – yet some die prematurely and many others suffer unnecessary pain because the blockade denies them access to much of the world’s medicines and medical equipment.
  
• A cultured people who receive free education at all levels and have produced many outstanding scientists, artists, musicians, scholars and sports stars. Yet they cannot get access to many basic supplies, because of a 47 year long economic blockade by the U.S. government.
  
• A proud and humane people who share what they have. Cuba has sent tens of thousands of their doctors around the world to provide free health care to others in need, yet when 1600 Cuban doctors were ready to fly to New Orleans to help out after Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration wouldn’t let them in – just like it tries to stop US citizens from visiting Cuba.

Read more >

http://www.ifconews.org/

[Judi Lynn]

8. Forgot to mention how good it is to hear a real account from someone who's been there,

and knows about the situation first hand.

It has so much more power when someone actually has experienced REAL events with Cubans personally, and of course I don't mean someone going for a night on the town and hanging out in the bars.

You did something meaningful.

If you were able to see a CBS "60 Minutes" feature on the embargo on Cuba, you may have seen Cuban "exiles" going down to Cuba from Miami (this was before _Bush slammed the door totally shut on ordinary travel by Cuban "exiles" back and forth) and a guy was clearly shown carrying a new computer through the Jose Marti airport to give to someone. That was a few years ago.

There are some DU'ers from the States and Canada who keep in touch with people they know in Cuba by phone AND by e-mail, and this has been going on for a long time.

They have had some access. We are kept from knowing how much since our own government refuses to let us go there to find out! Odd, isn't it?

Also, they have had very meager resources for getting everything up and running, due to the embargo. Venezuela recently laid cables on the ocean floor to Cuba to make internet access far easier for them. This may easily enter into their new capabilities.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. I have gone twice

the first time was for research, the second time was just because I knew I could do it without getting caught and my girlfriend had never been anywhere too interesting. I am no socialist - but nobody is going to tell me where I can and can't travel.

The contacts in Cuba were made for me by one of my old professors who was from Venezuela who knew this family that had this empty apartment and offered it for visitors in exchange for consumer electronics and designer clothing.

[ohio2007]

7. few Cubans can afford that price of $780. What? A years wages?

internet cafes is the way of the future for Cuba.

jmo