Excerpt from Yoani Sanchez now no problem with internet access in hotels now

[flamingdem]

Yoani is taking credit, well who knows maybe it did help.

quote:


I’m coming to believe that the influence of the Internet on our reality is bigger than I thought. After several days of not being able to connect to the Internet in hotels such as the Meliá Cohiba, the Panorama and the emblematic Hotel Nacional, the ban seems to have been lifted. Today I spoke with the same employees who two weeks ago showed me the resolution excluding Cubans from using such services at tourist facilities. They told me I can once again buy the blessed card that opens the door to the virtual world.

I may sound a bit boastful, but I think that if we had not raised a ruckus in recent days—denouncing such apartheid—we would have been deprived of the ability to connect. Yes, they cede when you push back, they have to amend the plan when we citizens raise our voices and the international media hears the echo. We understood this with Gorki’s case, and this correction confirms that our keeping quiet only allows them to snatch away more spaces from us. We need to make the most of the situation, now they are saying “Cubans can connect”, and take it as a public commitment. We must hold them to it and, if not, there will be Twitter, Facebook and text messages for protesting, when they try to shut us out again.

* On Monday, a dozen bloggers conducted an investigation into more than forty hotels. With the exception of the Occidental Miramar, they all said they were ignoring the regulation that prohibited Cubans from accessing the internet.

[Mika]

1. Thanks for posting that tidbit. Another example of the brutal jackboot dictatorship.

:sarcasm:

---

Bringing up Gorki's case (of being fined for disturbing the peace for loud rock band practice after 10pm in a residential neighborhood) as an example of their successful push-back is simply ridiculous.

Lucky for (unregistered agent) Yoani S that she's not trying to log-on from prison.

[flamingdem]

3. So he was just making a racket!

I think the New York Times covered it as something else entirely.

[Billy Burnett]

8. Gorki received a $28 civil fine for disturbing the peace, had a hearing for parole violation.

From a DU thread from that time period;

Dissident Cuban rocker fined $28, freed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3457743&mesg_id=3460752

HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban punk rocker known for his raunchy lyrics criticizing Fidel Castro was convicted of public disorder Friday ... Following a two-hour trial, the court ordered Gorki Aguila to pay 600 pesos (US$28) and released the 39-year-old singer ... Aguila was previously arrested in 2005 on drug charges ...
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRhnwx_62xjZB-8h-kq9fYmuCNfQD92SAPG80

The "trial" (a parole violation hearing) for violating the terms of his drug conviction parole - that he not get into any trouble with the law during his parole period - which he did with the civil disturbance charge. Had he not been on parole he would have simply been given a citation and paid a fine and been on his way. The whole "dissident Gorki arrested for simply saying bad things about Castro" is pure bullshit.

If you expand the thread linked to you'll find a pretty good discussion with the usual cast of characters.

[flamingdem]

5. It did bother me a lot

but later I thought... well the Cubans weren't even ALLOWED in the hotels until about a year or so ago.

So some beaurocrat probably just tried to reduce the load on the wi-fi ... not thinking ... incompetence over conspiracy is my guess.

[Mika]

6. Try going to a hotel and asking for use of their WiFi without being a guest.

No room, no service.

Same here as Cuba. There is WiFi hijack software in every country.

I wonder.. why doesn't Yoani just use her mother's internet account? ;) ;)

[flamingdem]

7. Check this link I think you can if you pay

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147271-i387-k2333508-WIFI_in_Havana-Havana_Cuba.html

That's my impression. Otherwise it would not have made sense that Yoani was able to pay to use the wi-fi at any point.

They'll take your CUC.

[EFerrari]

2. LOL! Yoani Sanchez congratulates herself for internet access!

No self serving crap there!

[flamingdem]

4. That's why I had to post this one...

Yoani is quite the media invention.