From our Bureau of Creative Innovations in Apartheid with some assistance from our Bureau of Humiliations That Noble Savages in Latrine American Socialist Hellholes Need to Accept Gracefully
You have to admit, the military geniuses who run Castro, Inc. are quite inventive when it comes to humiliating the Cuban people.
Who has ever heard of apartheid phone service? This is a new chapter in the history of discrimination, as well as the history of revenue creation. Tourists will now have the opportunity of paying Castro, Inc. for cellphone service that is only available if you have a foreign passport.
Whether or not this service is any better than the abysmally dysfunctional service offered to Cubans remains to be seen. Chances are that this apartheid cellphone network is just as awful as the one available to all Cubans, or maybe just a tiny bit better. So, Castro, Inc. may have just launched one of its greatest scams. Stay tuned.
And whether or not this apartheid service will be available to Cuban Yo-Yo’s with foreign passports is not clear at the moment. Chances are that it will NOT be offered to them, since that could flood the island with phones funded by the diaspora that might work more efficiently and be used to foment protests. Such speculation might be misguided, however, especially if this apartheid network is no different from the one offered to Cubans. And –as usual– anything that brings revenue from Yo-Yo’s is good for Castro, Inc. Stay tuned.
Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba
The state monopoly Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (ETECSA) launched a service for foreign tourists, barely a week after the nationals were again victims of their umpteenth disaster.
As the state company explained on its website, the new service is called CubacelTur and it is a temporary telephone line “that has a life cycle of 30 days from its activation and includes an initial basic package with data resources, minutes and SMS”. The lines and offers can be purchased before traveling to Cuba.
Once in Cuba, foreign tourists can request their CubacelTur line at any commercial unit of ETECSA, or at the José Martí International Airport, if they arrive at Terminal 3.
ETECSA clarified that the prices, both of the basic package and of the additional ones, vary depending on the international distributor.
The basic package of 6 GB and 100 minutes plus 100 SMS costs $25. There is a 10 GB add-on pack for $20, a 20 GB add-on for $30, and a 50 GB add-on for $60.
A note from the state news agency Prensa Latina specified that the service can only be purchased with a foreign passport. For the phone to work in Cuba it must be unlocked and operate on the frequencies 900 MHZ (3G), 2100 MHZ (3G) or 1800 MHZ (4G).
One of the questions that arise from the launch of this ETECSA offer for foreign tourists is whether the state monopoly will give them a good service, taking into account the terrible quality of what Cubans receive. Also, if they will suffer the interruptions that nationals usually suffer when there are anti-government protests such as those of July 2021, or another event that gives a bad image of the regime.
Continue reading HERE in Spanish