Krystal Guerra

univisionnews:

Red Social was allegedly been set up by Cuba’s Ministry of Education. It’s impossible to access from outside the island. (Screenshot by La Chiringa de Cuba)

By SANDRO MAIRATA
Channel: Latin American Affairs

Launched under the radar a few days ago, “Red Social” (literally, “Social Network”), is the Castro regime’s latest attempt to squeeze the information flow in Cuba.

The site mimics the look and feel of Facebook, replacing the site’s famous depiction of all continents linked by its service with an illustration of the island, with Cubans only connecting with fellow Cubans. “A virtual meeting point for Cuban universities,” the homepage slogan reads.

“It appears to be a Ministry of Education-sponsored idea,” writes Carlos Alberto Pérez Benítez, on the blog La Chiringa de Cuba. Pérez Benítez points out the network is available Intranet-only within the island. In fact, Red Social uses a Facebook-clone address,  http://facebook.ismm.edu.cu/, which is impossible to access from the United States.

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Do you know the level of control this gives them? University students are some of the most free-thinking individuals on the island and with this they will be able to coerce them into joining something that will stifle their much prized freedoms. Imagine trying to start and join an event invite for a march or protest; their freedoms will be shot to hell once that gets shut down. Imagine a status update voicing anti-Castro thoughts; they’d be lucky to not be arrested. There’s more pressing issues for these students than if they can join a network, their grandparents are being put to work for food, their parents are being silenced, imprisoned, killed, they’re trying to gain enough education to be successful in other countries because change is so stagnant in their own and trying to bring it upon is dangerous. This is reality? Sadly. (This is a touchy subject for me, apologies)