The Cuban Vice Prime Minister, Eduardo Martínez Díaz, assured this Wednesday on the Mesa Redonda that the average monthly consumption of mobile data on the island exceeds that of Latin America and the Caribbean, with a figure of 10 gigabytes per user.
"The average monthly consumption reached 10 GB. This is indeed a high level of consumption. In our region, it is below 10. In the Latin America and Caribbean region, it is around 7. Only the United States and Chile have higher consumption than we do," stated Martínez Díaz.
The deputy minister stated that the measures "had been studied, and it had been modeled that around 50% of our population consumed approximately 6 gigabytes per month, which is the amount that can currently be acquired at more affordable prices, even a lower price than we had before."
However, he acknowledged that half of the users of the state company will be affected in their Internet access.
"The truth is that there is a significant percentage, close to 50% of the population, that now faces limitations on a service they previously had. That, of course, is something we had achieved, but now we have this limitation," he said.
A defense without self-criticism
Martínez's statements come amid a growing wave of public discontent over the restrictions on internet access in Cuba. The official insisted that the decision to limit data packages with national top-ups is a response to an unsustainable economic situation for the state telecommunications company, ETECSA.
He assured that maintaining the company’s services requires “hundreds of millions of dollars annually” for the proper functioning of the country’s technological infrastructure.
Far from providing a solution to the crisis, the Deputy Prime Minister appealed to citizen understanding, arguing that the measure was poorly communicated. “Our people are intelligent, cultured, and educated. The process of communicating the measure was not good; we cannot say otherwise,” he admitted.
Academic breaks and rejection on social media
The government's statements aim to calm tensions on the island, but they come on the day students from the University of Havana began an academic strike that has spread to other provinces as an expression of rejection against the new ETECSA rates.
The government's response has not been conciliatory. The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) labeled the student protest as part of a “destabilizing maneuver” promoted by “enemies of the system.”
The Secretary of Organization of the PCC, Roberto Morales Ojeda, asserted that “there are not few media manipulations or opportunistic distortions” that aim to “sow chaos, promote violence, and fracture the peace of the Homeland.”
"Painful but necessary": a narrative repeated for decades
Martínez Díaz defined ETECSA's restrictions as measures "painful but temporary", a justification that repeats with every unpopular adjustment, from blackouts to shortages of food, medicine, or the dollarization in the markets that distance people from access to essential products.
The official insisted that the imposition of the new rates is not “arbitrary”. They were announced as part of the governmental program for 2025, and “models” were created to minimize the impact on sensitive sectors such as students, teachers, healthcare personnel, and journalists.
However, Martínez Díaz did not present concrete solutions to improve internet access in Cuba, nor clear timelines to reverse the ETECSA rates.
Promises without a deadline and accumulated distrust
The executive promised that "in time" the country could "regain the level of access that the population had" and even "reduce costs," but without providing details on how or when.
Connectivity is essential for studying, working, and staying informed. This measure particularly impacts those who do not have family abroad with access to foreign currency to top up their data beyond the limit of 360 CUP per month.
Meanwhile, the official call for "trust" clashes with a reality marked by decades of unfulfilled promises. "We will continue to work very hard," said Martínez Díaz, failing to convince a populace that has learned to distrust government rhetoric.
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