Cuba’s really terrible Internet, explained

Cuba has some of the worst Internet access in the world, with just 5 percent of Cubans able to access the uncensored web. Since the communist revolution of 1959, the Castro regime has enforced a strict ban on all forms of information flow that challenge official policy and history. Enforcing such censorship has been relatively easy for an island nation that has a monopoly over all media outlets. But when the Internet arrived in the 1990s, it complicated matters for the Castros.

Connecting to the web in Cuba has historically been a matter of money and power. Some government insiders have dial-up internet in their homes. But for the rest of population, getting online has meant paying around $9 for one hour of internet access in state-run internet cafes. This in a place where an average salary is just over $20 per month. Alternative methods include poaching wireless internet from hotels, which can be done if one person gets his hands on the Wi-Fi password and shares it. Many hotels in Havana now have security guards whose responsibility consists of shooing away these Internet parasites from the sidewalks and benches surrounding the hotels.