Posted on Thu, May. 22, 2008
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
Now it's not just Cuba's Raúl Castro who will allow cellular phones:
George W. Bush will, too.
In recognition of Cuban Solidarity Day, President Bush announced
Wednesday that he would tinker with existing regulations to permit
Cuban-Americans to send cellular phones to their relatives in Cuba, now
that Castro has lifted the ban that prevented Cubans from owning them.
''Now that the Cuban people can be trusted with mobile phones, they
should also be trusted to speak freely in public,'' Bush said. ``If Raúl
is serious about his so-called reforms, he will allow these phones to
reach the Cuban people.''
Castro took over Cuba's presidency Feb. 24, and quickly instituted a
series of consumer-oriented reforms that permit items such as computers
and mobile phones. But at $120, and more than 50 cents a minute, the
prices are out of reach for many people.
''The more people in Cuba have access to cellphones, the more they'll be
able to be connected with the outside world,'' said Marcibel Loo, a
spokeswoman for the Miami-based Cuban Democratic Directorate. ``It will
give the opposition the ability to communicate its message to the
outside world directly.''
But Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernández, president of the Cuban American
National Foundation, called Bush's cellphone initiative ''nothing new.''
Hernández said the foundation has sent cellphones to Cuba in the past
and that what the dissidents on the island need is money.
Those looking to send cellphones to Cuba would have to buy an unlocked,
GSM-compatible quad-band phone that can be purchased from electronics
stores or cellphone discounters.
Sprint and Verizon phones will not work because they operate on CDMA
technology. AT&T and T-mobile phones will work as long as they are
unlocked and can operate on at least 900 MHZ, which Cuba phones operate on.
Cubans would then have to purchase a $65 chip to activate the phone.
Before the restrictions were lifted, Cubans got tourists or visiting
family members to purchase a chip for them.
''I hope the Cuban-American community in South Florida sees through this
charade,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union affiliate in Florida. ``It means I can call my mother in
a hospital in Havana thanks to the cellphone that George Bush allows me
to send her... But I can't go visit her.''
The ACLU Florida chapter last week joined a group of Cuban Americans in
Vermont in a lawsuit seeking the end of Bush administration restrictions
that limit family visits to Cuba.
Bush called the recent reforms by Castro ''the height of hypocrisy to
claim credit for permitting Cubans to own products'' that the majority
can't afford.
''The world is watching the Cuban regime,'' Bush said. ``If it follows
its recent public gestures by opening up access to information, and
implementing meaningful economic reform, respecting political freedom
and human rights, then it can credibly say it has delivered the
beginnings of change.
''But experience tells us this regime has no intention of taking these
steps,'' he said. ``Instead, its recent gestures appear to be nothing
more than a cruel joke perpetrated on a long-suffering people.''
Miami Herald staff writer Jacqueline Charles contributed to this report.
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