Washington: The White House said on Thursday it reviewed whether the United States would be able to help Cuba regain internet access after the Cuban government action after the largest anti-government protests in decades.
The Cuban government has limited access to social media and messaging platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp in the midst of protests, according to the global internet monitoring company Netblocks.
Florida Governor Ron Desantis, Chairman of the Republic and US Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez, a Democrat, among those who called for President Joe Biden’s government to try to re-link Cuba to Internet services.
White House Press Secretary Jen PSAKI called the lack of internet access “a big problem in Cuba.” “We certainly see that to see what can be done,” added PSAKI, without providing specifics.
At a press conference in Miami, Desantis said the US government must take action to increase Cuba access to the internet and consider using the American Embassy in Havana as a staging place.
The idea suggested by several US politicians includes using satellite-based networks or high altitude balloons to allow internet access in Cuba.
“Time is the essence here.
Every day the regime must show off the truth is the day they can get the top on this,” Desantis said about the Cuban government.
Senator US Marco Rubio, a Florida Republic, asked Biden “to immediately ratify and allocate additional funds to provide the internet to Cuba using the capacity of an innovative American company.” Menendez told MSNBC on Tuesday that “we must see how we can expand access to the Internet, taking into account the internet satellite feed so that people on the island can communicate with each other.” Satellite-based services will require some physical infrastructure in Cuba, US officials said.
“It’s not easy to just move the satellite and suddenly it directly directly to the device,” Desantis said.
Brendan Carr, Republican Member of the US Federal Communication Commission, said on Thursday in Miami that “this is not a technology problem.
We have today’s technology that can begin to be used to provide connectivity to the island.” In Havana, there has been a regular and atypical cellular internet blackouts since Sunday, according to Reuters witnesses.
Psiphon, the Internet Sensor’s Defeated Tool funded by the US Global Media Agency, has helped Cuba access the internet.
Unique users every day in Cuba have surged to more than 146,000 since the demonstration began, said Senator US Marsha Blackburn.