Several activists and independent journalists in Cuba suffered this Wednesday a cut in communications. Both the director of 14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, like the editor-in-chief, Reinaldo Escobar, cannot use their telephone lines. The same is reported by Miriam Celaya and Boris González.
In a telephone call, the state monopoly Etecsa responded to this newspaper that “there is interruption in the networks and work is being done to restore the service.” Faced with the protests of a client through Twitter, the company asked and asked: “Send us your service number privately to review. We have similar reports and our specialists are reviewing. Do you only perceive problems establishing the call or in any other service?”
Hours later, the company issued a brief statement via its social networks in which they said they had received complaints from customers “referring to difficulties establishing voice calls through the cellular network.” The diagnosis that ETECSA claims to have carried out revealed “the failure of a card that caused instability in the operation of a computer that intervenes in the processing of this service, causing effects that were randomly perceived to establish or receive calls”. In addition, it said that SMS services and mobile data did continue to operate.
“If the difficulty in accessing this service persists, we would appreciate it if you contact us through our official channels”
“If the difficulty in accessing this service persists, we would appreciate it if you contact us through our official channels,” the text concludes.
The company did not allude at any time to possible problems with the energy supply. In just over a week, there has been three severe power outages on the island, which the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) has attributed to “breakdowns” caused by fires or “human error”.
On the other hand, the collaborator of Cubanet Vladimir Turro He was held by State Security for almost three hours, during which his whereabouts were unknown. Another independent journalist, Julio Aleaga, was also arrested outside his house in El Vedado, Havana this morning and released in the afternoon.
“I was arrested today at 8:30 a.m., they kept me in the car for two hours and took me to the Zanja station,” the analyst explained to several colleagues on the island. “Two officers questioned me separately: ‘Alfredo,’ about my participation in the networks, and ‘Osvaldo’, about my activity with the APLP [Asociación pro Libertad de Prensa]”. Aleaga added that “they are interested in banishing me.”
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