The U.S. State Department unveiled an ambitious initiative on Sunday for submarine cables to the Caribbean and Central America aimed at expanding high-speed connectivity with reliable providers in the region.
The announcement was made during the annual conference of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organizations (CANTO), held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Cuba, as expected, was excluded from the project.
According to the official statement from the State Department, Washington urged Caribbean governments to "exclude untrusted providers from their information and communications technology ecosystems and adopt a modernized and secure approach to network upgrades."
The initiative also includes legal and technical assistance through the Commercial Law Development Program of the Department of Commerce, to help governments draft legislation on trusted suppliers and protect critical infrastructure.
Two days before the conference, the U.S. convened the U.S.-Caribbean Digital Transformation Accelerator, which brought together Caribbean regulators with U.S. companies to advance concrete projects in submarine cables, 5G network funding, satellite connectivity, and readiness for artificial intelligence.
Cuba is not included in any of these projects.
The exclusion is not coincidental: since December 2022, the Department of Justice recommended to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the application of ARCOS-1 to lay a direct cable between Florida and Cuba, citing counterintelligence risks stemming from ETECSA's control over the landing infrastructure.
ETECSA is the state telecommunications monopoly on the island, linked to the military-business conglomerate GAESA, included on the list of entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury.
The Decree 124/2025 extended ETECSA's concession until 2036, with the possibility of an extension until 2066, securing the state monopoly over communications for decades.
The island currently relies on the ALBA-1 cable, which has connected it to Venezuela since 2013, and the Arimao cable, which links it to Martinique through Orange and ETECSA and entered the testing phase in April 2023. Neither of the two resolves Cuba's structural isolation from the global network.
The internal outlook is equally bleak. In May 2025, ETECSA restricted internet access for millions of Cubans by limiting top-ups in Cuban pesos to 360 CUP every 30 days and promoting plans payable in dollars, which are beyond the reach of most of the population.
A resolution from the Institute of Information and Social Communication, effective since May 2025, also allows for the suspension of websites without prior notice if the regime deems that they violate "socialist principles."
In May 2026, the U.S. publicly offered Cuba free satellite internet via Starlink and 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid. The Cuban government rejected both proposals.
Weeks later, in June, the Cuban Customs confiscated Starlink equipment at airports citing Resolution 1/2026, which prohibits the importation of devices to access telecommunications networks without authorization.
While the rest of the Caribbean moves towards what the U.S. describes as a digital transformation aimed at "ensuring reliable, secure hemispheric networks positioned to support long-term economic growth," Cuba remains trapped between the monopoly of ETECSA, government censorship, and a deliberate rejection of any alternative independent connectivity.
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