By all the governments of Latin America only the Cuban regime shut down internet service to the population during 2021 to prevent the dissemination of information outside of government control on at least four occasions, according to a report by NGO Access Now.
Although shutting down internet service is a practice the regime often uses selectively against opponents, activists and journalists, This action became widespread as a result of the anti-government protests of the 11th centurywhen the service was shut down across the country.
The research itself, conducted as part of a campaign called #KeepItOn in collaboration with at least 70 entities dedicated to protecting internet freedom, pointed to the protests of 11y as the main reason for benefit cuts by the island authorities.
The Access Now report denounced that “in July, as Cubans flooded the streets demanding access to food, water, medicine and Covid-19 vaccine, The government imposed a complete lockdown on the network. Even after restoring access to Internet Authorities blocked WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.”
The organization also emphasized this Words like “VPN” (Virtual Private Network) and “freedom” have been banned from the SMS serviceso if a user sent a message containing one of these terms, it was automatically canceled by ETECSA.
However, the part of the report devoted to Cuba did not only focus on the massive cuts since then He also denounced that the island’s regime had blocked the SIM cards of certain people, mainly activists and journalists.so that they are completely disconnected from the network and have no choice as there is only one state-owned telecom company in the country.
It should be remembered that massive protests did not only take place in Cuba last yearbecause countries in the region, such as Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, Brazil and Argentina, experienced major disruptions even though internet service did not stop there.
Since opening Wi-Fi points in 2015, the Cuban regime has used every means at its disposal to restrict Internet service, from selectively blocking independent media and websites to the approval of laws such as Legislative Decree 370 freedom of expression on the internet is punished.
Since the beginning of 2020, more than thirty independent journalists and activists have been sanctioned or threatened on the basis of Legislative Decree 370. In several instances, officers showed journalists “printouts of their social media posts as ‘evidence’ of their crimes,” the report said.
Despite the fact that Internet penetration reached 68% of the country in 2019, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), The island has the lowest mobile phone penetration rate in Latin Americaalthough in the same year 53% of the population had access to this service.
A Freedom House report released in late 2021 described Cuba as a country “without internet freedom” and with one of the “other media worlds restrictive of the world”.