Underwater Fiber-optics Cable between Cuba and Venezuela
Yeah, this one’s old news, but felt like posting it anyway, especially seeing as it’s set to go into operation next year:
“Como elemento integrador [entre Venezuela y Cuba] el cable submarino puede proporcionar comunicaciones seguras y con mayores prestaciones que las proporcionadas por los enlaces satelitales [comerciales de uso actual] en combinación con las redes terrestrales.”
Translation (author’s own):
“As an integrative element [between Venezuela and Cuba] the underwater cable is capable of supplying secure communications, with more capacity than what is provided by the current [commercial] satellite links in combination with terrestrials networks.”
I know, it doesn’t sound all that contentious, but consider what this allows for, given rumors of secret rooms in Maiquetia (Caracas’ international airport) where Cubans and Venezuelans spy on domestic and international telephone calls, not to mention CANTV’s infiltration by the DISIP (yes, admittedly this comes from a screaming-head opposition source). CANTV is the state-owned, national telephone company.
That said, here’s a bit on Cuba’s intelligence infrastructure, and specifically as it pertains to telephone conversations and other forms of communication on the internet. The key section follows (dump it into Google’s Translator for other languages).
“Un grupo es para espiar las telecomunicaciones de Estados Unidos en general. Otro grupo es para espiar telefonos y computadoras asignadas de antemano. Un tercer grupo es para espiar mediante el sistema moderno de “reconocimiento de voz” para interceptar llamadas desde cualquier telefono al reconocer el patron de voz de la persona.”
Of course, Venezuela would not be the first country to spy on its own citizens. Indeed, the country where I reside has a long-standing love affair with wire-tapping and other types of espionage directed inwardly at civilians. Lately it’s been sanctioned and gained more public scrutiny under the cause of the War on Terrorism. But we all know that these practices are nothing new to the world of US intelligence operations, though their reach has certainly grown. Notwithstanding, the key to the new, unfettered link between Cuba and Venezuela lies in the autocratic nature of their current governments.
What new problems might this more intimate, high-density and immediate exchange of information “under the sea” bring to Venezuela and its people? I shudder at the implications and can only hope that people will be a bit less myopic in their characterizations of Venezuela and Chavez, as defender of all things anti-Bush.
Tags: democracy, espionage, hugo chavez, internet, politics, socialism, surveillance, venezuelaTags: democracy, espionage, hugo chavez, internet, politics, socialism, surveillance, venezuela