Cubans Find Alternative To Internet and Cable Television

MOSCOW, January 13 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — Although Cubans have no access to Internet and cable television, resourceful and adventurous civilians of the Caribbean state have found the way out.

"It's called the "weekly packet," and it's an alternative to broadband Internet that provides tens of thousands of Cubans, and perhaps many more, with foreign movies, TV shows, digital copies of magazines, websites and even local advertising," the Christian Science Monitor narrated.

Cubans hand their empty hard drives to secret distributors in order download the latest movies, television shows and music videos as well as updates to anti-virus software and mobile phone apps. Then they take their drives back home and enjoy films and TV shows over the next week. It still remains a mystery where these materials come from. Curiously enough, Cuban authorities, which control all the state's media resources, tolerate the system of illegal content distribution.

"It's not legal but it is convenient," says Poe Rivera, a painter and poet, as cited by the Christian Science Monitor, explaining why the Cuban government has not yet shut down the materials distribution.

"I watch the news, documentaries, humor shows and sports events. I heard them say on the TV news that the packet can cause people to deviate, but I don’t see proof of this. No one speaks of politics…. And there’s no pornography on it," elaborates Luis Lahera, former Interior Ministry's safety and rescue specialist, as quoted by the media outlet.

The Christian Science Monitor notes that the recent Cuban "packet" comprised of the latest episodes of Showtime's "Homeland," HBO's "Game of Thrones" and the new Netflix serial "Marco Polo," as well as "Gone Girl," "Cantinflas" and "Outcast." All the movies have Spanish-language subtitles and are not interrupted by annoying commercials.

One of distributors, operating under the alias Iyawo, told two foreign reporters that he had about 200 clients, who bought the weekly packets for $1 each, while he himself paid $15 to a distributor above him. The man revealed that at least 1,000 distributors are working around the Caribbean state. If caught the distributors would face arrest and imprisonment.

Although Cuban officials seem to turn a blind eye to the "weekly packet," some of them, like Abel Prieto, a former minister of culture, blasts the illegal materials, referring to errors by Cuba's educational, cultural and media institutions. During his speech at the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba meeting in April 2014, he called upon Cuban state media to improve its work and programming.

According to Iyawo, if the packet were banned in Cuba, many would be distressed.

"That's what everyone asks: 'If they take this away, what would happen?’ It would be chaos. This is a vice. Cuban television is so bad, and this provides us some entertainment. This is at the margin of what is good and what is bad, without falling into the bad," he concluded as cited by the Christian Science Monitor.