Castro's son stresses Cuba's progress in computer technology

Sunday, October 12, 2003

PARIS, France: The son of Cuban President Fidel Castro emphasized at the 32nd UNESCO General Conference, that after three years of the country's computerization strategy, 76 per cent of Cuba's telephone landlines have been digitized, according to the Notimex news agency.

Mr. Fidel Castro Diaz Balart highlighted Cuba's progress in the field of computers during the last three years and the importance of communication technologies in the fight against illiteracy. 

Mr. Castro Diaz Balart, a nuclear energy expert, took part, as Cuba's delegate, to the 32nd UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Conference. In his speech he pointed out that the island has 250,000 computers, 60 per cent of which are connected to the Internet. The Cuban delegate also said there are 360,000 e-mail users in the country, of whom 100,000 have international access, in addition to 60,000 Internet users. 

Furthermore, Mr. Castro Diaz Balart stressed that there are six Internet service providers in Cuba and 400 sites posted on the World Wide Web, 200 of them with a mirror site. 

"Computer use is present in all levels of education" the Cuban leader's son stressed, while highlighting that "Cuba has set the goal of starting to move on the computerization path". 

He said: "The economic and social development project undertaken by the Cuban people puts it at an advantage in facing the challenge of computerization and beginning the journey of becoming a knowledge-based society, despite being subject to great pressure and external threats for more than 40 years." 

He denounced the fact that, at present, the private sector carries out two-thirds of the new research conducted around the world, which, in turn, creates "obstacles to the protection of intellectual rights". 

In this respect, he said "the Knowledge Society must seek effective strategies to prevent the loss of access to more advanced technological and scientific knowledge". 

Among other proposals, Castro Diaz-Balart asked the more developed countries to grant complementary access via Internet to scientific and technical magazines, and to establish measures to stop the brain drain from the less-developed countries.

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