The past few months have been rather difficult for Cubans, both for those living in Cuba and for those abroad, who are worried about their families and friends back home and feel that their power to help is rather limited. In addition to the health and political crisis, a new telecommunications decree stirs critiques and worries in the entire world… Let’s take a look at the latest topics that raised interest and noise in Cuba and abroad.

The controversial Decree-Law 35

Recently, the government made public Decree-Law 35 and several accompanying norms regulating the use of telecommunications, including the internet and radio, and the government’s response to “cybersecurity incidents.” The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the enactment of this decree that “criminalizes the sharing of “false” and “offensive” information online, and grants authorities expanded powers to restrict online speech”. Another turning point in Cuban history…

Free internet access in Cuba – dream or reality

In the meantime, in the US, from July 11, more and more voices are asking for solutions to help Cubans get free access to the internet. And although the people promising to make this true are indeed powerful, it seems that it’s not that easy because of limitations imposed by physical laws that simply cannot be ignored. There have been discussions about satellite internet, about GPRS and WiFi, but they all seem to miss a technical feature that would make free internet possible. Still, we can’t lose hope, we need to make the most of what we have at hand.

How to bypass restrictions…

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… This seemed to hold true for the solutions Cubans found to bypass the internet access restrictions. According to Bloomberg, more than 1 million people in Cuba per day are using Psiphon, an anti-censorship tool supported by the U.S. government to evade government blackouts of social media such as Facebook. Another solution is VPN. Here is an updated article published by vpnmentor.com, after weeks of testing more than 50 VPNs. These VPNs not only bypass geoblocks and secure your data without compromising speed, but they can be used on multiple devices simultaneously.

So yes, so many challenges we need to face, but we’re strong and creative and capable to succeed, right?