Crooked media interviews on Cuba

"We were just trying to get Alan Gross out of prison at first" Ben Rhodes, Obama Administration Cuba negotiator

Crooked Media, which was created by three senior Obama White House staff members, produces several excellent (pro-Democratic) podcasts. One of those is PodSavetheWorld, hosted by Tommy Vietor, who spent nearly a decade as a spokesman for President Obama, specializing in foreign policy and national security issues.

Two episodes of PodSavetheWorld include interviews with high-level Obama staff members who were involved in forming our Cuba policy. The following describe and link to exceprts from those interviews.

The first excerpt is from an interview of Dan Restrepo, who served as a top Latin America advisor to President Obama. Restrepo had written a Cuban-rapprochement roadmap for candidate Obama during his first campaign and he returned to the topic in 2013. He says Obama was playing a "long game," knowing that his executive authority was limited and he could not move faster than US public opinion. Restrepo characterizes Obama's strategy as a bet that by creating a degree of freedom among the Cuban people, for example by expanding reparations and undermining Castro's excuse of blaming all problems on the Evil Empire, the Cuban government would be forced to change. He noted that the blame-US game was a hard sell after the Cuban people saw the Evil Emperor, who looked more like them than the current Cuban leaders, giving a speech on TV or at a baseball game with Raúl Castro.

The excerpt (14:20) is here and the full podcast (48:37) here.

The second excerpt is from an interview of Ben Rhodes, who served as a speechwriter and emissary for President Obama and was one of two White House staff members handling the negotiations leading up to our opening with Cuba. Rhodes and his colleague Ricardo Zuniga traveled to Canada for 12-15 secret meetings with Cuban representatives while working out the rapprochement details. At the start, they were only negotiating for the release of Alan Gross because Obama reasoned that rapprochement would be politically unacceptable if Gross remained in a Cuban prison. Early in the negotiation for Gross, they realized more was possible and the scope of the discussion broadened. Only a few people in the White House knew of these negotiations, but the Vatican was informed early and played a key role. (If you are unfamiliar with the Alan Gross case, click here).

The excerpt (11:30) is here and the full podcast (1:00:48) is here.

Documentary on the Alan Gross case -- recommended

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and Television Martí, has produced a 45-minute documentary on Alan Gross.

Alan Gross was imprisoned for five years after being found guilty of bringing a few personal satellite-Internet ground stations into Cuba. I've reported on the technology, the propaganda and the legal effort to free him, but this documentary adds a personal touch -- you "meet" Alan, his wife Judith and his former cellmate and now dear friend Rolando Garcia.

I think you will like what you see -- Gross comes across as being smart, idealistic and having a sense of humor. He was not broken and embittered by his ordeal -- he is optimistically looking forward, not dwelling on the past.

Check it out.

Alan Gross' talk at the National Press Club

Source: Local10.com

Alan Gross spoke at the National Press Club and answered questions about his years in prison in Cuba. Although I have been covering the technical and political aspects of his case for years, he said a number of things I had not heard before.

He spent the first year in prison confined to his cell and rarely saw daylight, but in subsequent years, after his "conviction," he had a number of visitors including his wife, Jimmy Carter, former president of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez and "numerous U.S. elected officials from both sides of Congress and both sides of the aisle."

Gross said that Carter attempted to persuade Cuban President Raul Castro to free the contractor.

"I was visited by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, and President Carter told me that the night before our visit he had met with President Raúl Castro, who told him, 'Jimmy, I know that Alan is not a spy.' And President Carter said, 'Well Raúl, I have my plane with me (so) why don't you let me take him home?' And President Castro said, 'If I do that Jimmy, they'll run me out of town on a rail.' I don't think that sounds like a person who has total control over his government," Gross said.

When asked about the current situation, Gross replied that

"Normalization is not going to occur for many years, but all it took was a single step -- they say a journey of a thousand miles begins by the single step, and we've taken more than a single step -- not only in the United States, but in Cuba too. And to those members of Congress who said that Obama has been giving gifts to the Castro brothers, I would respond to that by saying the Castro brothers are totally irrelevant to Cuba's future."

You can download an audio recording of the talk here and read more quotes here.

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Update 3/29/2016

These photos underscore Alan Gross' contention that the Castro brothers are no longer relevant. Crowds watching Obama drive by while Venezuelan President Maduro visits Fidel Castro -- the past and the future.

Neither Castro nor Obama wished to meet each other and Fidel criticized President Obama after he had left Cuba.

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Update 5/17/2016

Alan Gross, who spent five years in prison in Cuba for bringing in portable satellite equipment, has given an interview in which he talks in some detail about what he did and did not do.

The video below shows a user setting up a portable satellite ground station like those Gross carried into Cuba. As you see, it is highly portable and is set up in about three minutes.

In the interview, Gross describes the moment at which you lock onto a satellite signal after adjusting the antenna alignment:

When you lock onto the satellite you've lit a candle. It's a feeling of elation. After I did it the first time, that's all I wanted to do. Go around the world lighting candles.

He's good man!

(For more on Alan Gross, what he did and the politics surrounding his eventual release, click here).

Alan Gross talks about his years in prison in Cuba

His suicide threat was a ploy to turn up the heat on the Cubans.

Alan Gross at home. (Suzanne Pollak/Washington Jewish Week)

Alan Gross has talked about his experience in Cuban prison in a recent interview. He described his life after being in prison as surreal and says the incarceration was not about him -- he was a mere bargaining chip in US-Cuba negotiations and propaganda. (What he did was costly to the US taxpayer and, had he succeeded, would not have mattered).

He says he was threatened and confined to a cell 23 hours a day, but never tortured. He did not eat well, losing 70 pounds the first year and 40 more during the next three years and malnutrition led to his losing several teeth. He coped with the hardship by exercising religiously, finding something to laugh at every day and drawing strength from memory of his family that had survived the Holocaust.

Gross had limited contact with his family for the first 3 1/2 years and was not aware of the efforts being made on his behalf in the US. When he learned of those efforts, he let it be known that he was in failing health, despondent and unwilling to see anyone but his wife. He went on a nine-day hunger strike in April 2014 and said he would kill himself if he were not freed by the end of 2015.

He now says he never intended to commit suicide -- it was a ploy to turn up the heat on the Cubans, who had been alarmed by his hunger strike.

Gross had worked on many similar USAID communication projects before going to Cuba and misses that work, but said he was now afraid to leave the US.

He still has special affection for the Cuban people, including the Jews he tried to serve and is "gratified to witness a new found diplomatic relationship between Cuba and the United States”.

If you are interested in full coverage of what Gross did and the efforts to free him, see these posts.

Alan Gross press coverage a year after we moved to restore relations with Cuba

Today marks a year since President Obama issued his statement on Cuba policy changes. (You can see a statement of our policy and his 15-minute speech announcing the day he announced the policy shift here).

It is also a year since Alan Gross was freed and he reflects upon his time in prison and US policy in this interview. You can read the complete interview, but here are a couple of things I picked up on:

• Gross has "absolutely no bitterness whatsoever toward the people of Cuba" -- he feels like they are his "family."
• He would visit Cuba "in a heartbeat" if the government would promise not to arrest him.
• He says normalizing relations between Cuba and the US will take years, both governments are working towards that end and "we need to be patient to see this relationship evolve."
• Gross considers the U.S. trade embargo "stupid" and "a complete failure."
• His broken teeth have been repaired and he has regained 40 of the 110 he lost while in prison.

If you'd like to read more, check out the posts I've written on the technology and politics of the Alan Gross case.

Alan Gross arriving home a year ago and today

Of course, Alan Gross is just part of the story. The most extensive Cuba coverage I have seen on the anniversary of our policy change is a week-long series of posts on Yahoo U. S. and Cuba, One Year Later.

The series features dozens of posts on various aspects of Cuban culture and the political situation. Most are human interest stories on tourism, fashion, baseball, etc., but the following are three Internet-related posts you might want to check out.

Cuba Unplugged: An Island Still Stuck in Airplane Mode -- a look at the public WiFi hotspots and the ways people are using them. There is nothing that would be new to readers of this blog, but the post is well written and accompanied by a short video and photos. My favorite snippet was this exchange between the interviewer and an about 65 year-old Cuban woman who uses Airbnb to rent rooms in her house:

“What if I told you that in America we use the Internet mostly to watch videos of cats?” There was a long awkward silence. “How terrible,” she said.

The 21st Century Is Coming to Cuba, One Hotspot at a Time -- an overview of the present state of the Cuban Internet and plans for expansion. It covers the WiFi hotspots, home connectivity plans, the presence of US companies in Cuba, early Internet-based efforts of American companies, Cuban tech startups, political and economic barriers to Cuban investment and modernization, etc. Again, nothing we have not covered on this blog, but well written for a general audience.

Despite obstacles, Instagram offers a new window into Cuba -- the way Cubans and, to a greater extent, expats are using Instagram to document life on the island. You can see a slide show here and there are links to the Instagram accounts of Cubans and foreign journalists and professional photographers. My favorite is the account of Havana-based Reuters photographer Desmond Boylan, but I'd recommend checking them all.

Strolling in Havana by Desmond Boylan

The series does not focus on the Internet, but the Internet figures in many of the stories. In general, this is timely news coverage of an important story a year after it began. The posts are not detailed or technical, but they are well written for a general audience -- like newspaper readers. (Remember newspapers)?

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Update 1/24/2016

The Havana Times reports that USAID has allocated $6 million to support civil society and promote the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people with the goal of "empowering the Cuban people to decide their own destiny."

They prefer that grantee's personnel traveling to Cuba be fluent in Spanish, possess a solid understanding of Cuban culture and have prior experience on the island. It is noteworthy that "grant recipients will be going to Cuba at their own risk and may not hold USAID responsible for what might happen to them." The same goes for project staff based in Cuba.

It looks likes they have learned from the Alan Gross affair -- Gross sued the government, claiming he was unaware of the risks he was taking on behalf of USAID. The disclaimer also sends a message to conservatives in the US that the administration still considers Cuba repressive. I think they will have a hard time recruiting people to work on these projects.

Alan Gross interviewed on Sixty Minutes

Alan Gross gave his first interview last night on CBS 60 Minutes. He spoke of his suffering in prison, his 20 years as a contractor installing communication equipment in 54 countries, and his surprise at not being quickly freed by the US Government. The segment also told of the key role played by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont in arranging for the prisoner swap that freed Gross and the effort of Alan's wife Judy, who worked tirelessly to keep the case in the public eye -- losing her house in the process.

I have said that the equipment Alan Gross actually brought to Cuba would have had no political impact if he had succeeded -- it would have been a drop in the bucket and a waste of US resources. As it turned out, it provided Cuba with a propaganda opportunity and a bargaining chip in negotiations with the US. I think Alan Gross agreed with me in his Sixty Minutes interview last night -- he described it as a "cockamamie" program.

That opinion was shared by senator Leahy who considered the effort "stupid" and "a disservice to all the men and women who work so well for our country with USAID around the world."

I share Gross's belief that "access to information is a right for everyone" and am happy to see him home. The best part of the interview for me was to see Gross smiling and relaxed with a sense of humor.

(You can see more background on the Alan Gross case here).

Alan Gross, before, during and near the end of his imprisonment

Alan and Judy Gross when he returned

Gross being greeted by Secretary of State Kerry

Smiling and relaxed on Sixty Minutes

Welcome home Alan Gross!

I've been quite busy since the release of Alan Gross, so have not taken the time to comment on it on this blog.

I've been following his story on this blog -- both the technology and the politics -- for several years, and I am very happy to end that thread!

I'm also happy that his release has removed an obstacle to the normalization of relations between the US and Cuba -- that will benefit the Cuban people and the Cuban Internet.

This may or may not be the end of Alan Gross's involvement with the Internet in Cuba -- he is clearly an advocate of Internet freedom and a friend of the Cuban people.

I hope he adjusts quickly to his freedom and am looking forward to hearing more from him if he cares to share his experience.

An Alan Gross suggestion from an amateur

Alan Gross is starting his sixth year in prison. As I understand it, Cuba wants to discuss releasing him in exchange for the remaining Cuban Five prisoners and the US refuses to do so because they do not see equivalence in the cases, saying that Gross was trying to facilitate Cuban communication, not doing espionage.

If that negotiation is at an impasse, how about trying to reframe the issue? Alan Gross's project was not unique. It is known that USAID funded another project to get communication equipment into Cuba, Twitter-like ZunZuneo and A program to encourage dissent among youth. We do not deny funding these programs, but say they were not trying to overthrow the Cuban government.

Instead of a prisoner swap, how about the US sincerely apologizing for and promising to end projects like these in return for Gross's freedom? The US has already been outed, so we would not be revealing anything new in apologizing. At the same time, it would give the Cuban government a propaganda win and a rationale for releasing Gross on humanitarian grounds -- making them look good. Would they go for that?

I understand that hard-liners on either side would refuse such a deal and I understand their reasons, but think about poor Alan Gross.

Where there is smoke, there is fire -- will Alan Gross be released soon?

Senators Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said they met with Gross for about two hours during a trip that included meetings with Cuban officials and they were optimistic about the release of Alan Gross.

That was two days ago. Today, they returned without Gross, saying the Cuban's insist upon a swap for the remaining Cuban Five and the US insisting that that would not happen. Flake and Udall refused to endorse the swap. Still, Flake said he does feel they are closer.

I still wonder if something is in the works. There has been a flurry of news about Alan Gross lately. Articles about him have been turning up in my "Google Alerts" pretty much every day, and the New York Times ran three editorials on Cuba and matters related to Alan Gross in the past month:

• Criticism of USAID's pro-democracy programs in Cuba, including the Alan Gross project
• A call for the end of the embargo
• A call for a prisoner swap for Alan Gross

Can you think of anything else a Republican and a Democrat senator agreed on during the last six years? In spite of this setback, momentum -- perhaps a PR campaign by the White House -- seems to be building and we still may see Alan Gross released.

Here is a video of the two senators talking about their views of Alan Gross and our relations with Cuba:

This video has been taken down -- I wonder why?????

The Cuban man-in-the-street view of Alan Gross

Iván García has written a post on Alan Gross in which he gives some insight into the man-in-the-street's view of the case. A kid who lives in a poor neighborhood near the prison hospital where Gross is being held says he has heard the name somewhere. “He’s the gringo who they locked up for spying in Cuba.” That is how the Cuban media characterize the case.

When Ernesto, a man who repairs bicycle and car tires, was told what Gross had actually smuggled into Cuba, he remarked that “they sell all this stuff on Revolico (an on-line site condemned by the government). What was the Yank up to, setting up a spy ring with commercial toys?”

Ernesto understands what we have said previously -- Cuba has greatly exaggerated the impact Gross's equipment would have had had he succeeded. What he doen't know is the amount of money the US spent on a plot that would have had virtually no impact had it succeeded. (There is an indication that the government may have paid up to $6 million for the project and Alan Gross would have cleared $164,889 had he succeeded).

There are no good guys in this story.

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Update 8/17/2014

The Huffington Post has an article on the politics of the Alan Gross case. It blames Raul Castro and US politicians for the stalemate.

Under the law when and where they were arrested Alan and the Cuban Five were guilty. The fairness of both trials left much to be desired and the sentences were excessive. The bottom line is that all were witting and willing instruments of anachronistic policies but they have paid an undeserved price because of their governments inflexibility and self-righteousness.

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Update 9/5/2014

The Associated Press reports that Fernando Gonzalez, one of the "Cuban 5," is "cautiously optimistic" about a trade of the remaining Cuban prisoners for Alan Gross. That is the good news. The bad news is that his hope is based on things like Hilary Clinton's book and faith in President Obama, nothing concrete. Gonzalez said he thought freeing Gross without freeing his three colleagues "would be very difficult."

For other posts on Gross and what he actually did, click here.

Alan Gross declares a hunger strike

I was saddened to read that Alan Gross will go on a hunger strike as a protest against both the governments of the U. S. and Cuba over his incarceration.

I wonder if the USAID policy makers considered the effect it might have on Alan Gross if further covert programs were run in Cuba when they were planning and funding the establishment of ZunZuneo?

I also wonder whether the Cuban government will tighten its hold on Gross in retaliation for the ZunZuneo revelation.

Gross is already in poor health, and, a little over a year ago said

I currently weigh 144 pounds. I am 5 feet, 11 inches tall. When I was arrested, my weight was approximately 254 pounds.

He summed up the reason for the hunger strike as follows:

I am fasting to object to mistruths, deceptions, and inaction by both governments, not only regarding their shared responsibility for my arbitrary detention, but also because of the lack of any reasonable or valid effort to resolve this shameful ordeal.

For more details on the case and what Gross did, see these posts.

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Update 4/11/2014

Several sources have reported that Alan Gross ended his hunger strike at the urging of his family and friends.

Quick update on Alan Gross on the fourth anniversary of his imprisonment

Alan Gross’ wife plans a protest at the White House on December 3 -- hoping to persuade President Obama to move to exchange Gross for the "Cuban Five."

I learned of this planned protest from a press release issued by JTA, a Jewish news agency. JTA has published 23 releases on Gross since he was arrested -- providing a timeline for the case.

I've also published several more detailed posts on this blog.
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Update 12/2/2013

What do Barbara Boxer and Ted Cruz agree on? That Alan Gross should be freed.

On the fourth anniversary of his imprisonment in Cuba, former U.S. government contractor Alan Gross wrote a letter to President Obama, asking him to personally intervene in his case.

That letter, two others, signed by 14 and 66 US Senators are reproduced along with an article on the case in the Washington Post.
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Update 2/10/2014

Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota just returned from a three day trip to Cuba to talk about agricultural trade. Heitkamp, who favors a change in our relationship to Cuba, met with Alan Gross and said that his "incarceration has really led to a point of difficulty in our continuing effort to normalize relations."

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Update 8/4/2014

Alan Gross is depressed and threatening suicide, saying "life in prison is not a life worth living." What he attempted would have had little practical impact had he succeeded -- why prolong his imprisonment?

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Update 10/5/2014

CCTV (Chinese) video (9:48) interview of Judy Gros, wife of Alan Gross, She claims he was there to connect to the Cuban intranet, not the Internet, but then what was the satellite equipment for? She also claims that Gross did not know he was violating Cuban law. They also mention the Zunzuneo project, which she calls "stupid."

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Update 11/3/2014

A New York Times editorial calls for a prisoner swap -- Alan Gross for the remaining Cuban Five. For more on Alan gross click here.

Supporters of Alan Gross across from the White House last year. CreditPaul J. Richards/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A poster in Havana of the Cuban Five, in August 2005.CreditAdalberto Roque/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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Update 11/8/2014

CNN reports that there have been government talks about a prisoner exchange:

The signs include the admission this week by senior administration officials that talks about a swap between Gross and three imprisoned Cuban agents -- part of group originally known as the Cuban Five -- have taken place.

The coverage also includes a short video:



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Update 11/12/2014

Senators Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said they met with Gross for about two hours during a trip that included meetings with Cuban officials and they are optimistic about the release of Alan Gross.

There has been a flurry of other news about Alan Gross lately. Articles about him have been turning up in my "Google Alerts" pretty much every day, the USAID is reviewing their Cuban-democracy efforts and the New York Times and others are calling for the release of Gross and the end of the embargo.

I would not be surprised if he were released soon.

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Update 12/3/2014

Suggestion for a negotiating tactic

Would it help if the US were to take responsibility for the various USAID attempts to influence Cubans?

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Update 12/11/2014

Clip from interview of President Obama (1m 2s) -- they've been negotiating for some time through a variety of channels.

Alan Gross files an affidavit

Last November, Alan Gross and his wife filed a law suit against Development Alternatives, Inc. (the company that he contracted with for his ill-fated work in Cuba) and the United States of America for "damages arising from tortious conduct committed against them."

His attorneys have filed an affidavit based on three sets of in-person interviews (December 2012, February 2013, and March 2013) and reviewed by Gross. Tracey Eaton has posted that statement on his blog Along the Malecón. It is detailed and revealing -- I advise you to read it in its entirety. I did, and here are a couple of the quotes that I noticed.

His physical condition

I currently weigh 144 pounds. I am 5 feet, 11 inches tall. When I was arrested, my weight was approximately 254 pounds.

He was experienced

For the last ten years before my arrest, my projects through JBDC (his company) focused primarily on facilitating the use of information and communications technology ("ICT") to aid citizens in other countries with limited access to ICT. Over this period, I set up and managed approximately 150 fixed-earth stations to increase Internet access.
...
Before the project that led to my arrest, I had worked on numerous USAID sponsored projects throughout the world.

What he brought in

To do this work, I usually would purchase the required components and assemble what I call a "telco in a bag." These kits would contain "BGANS," which are commercially-available modems that permit connectivity from anywhere in the world by accessing satellites. (For more on the equipment, see this post)

Work in Jewish communities

Further, as part of my international development career, I also had worked on several development projects with numerous Jewish communities around the world, including Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Israel, and the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

His motivation

I was excited when I received DAl's RFP. The potential project provided me with an opportunity to combine my professional interest in technology and international development with my personal passion for helping Jewish communities around the world.

DAI security

When I arrived for the meeting on November 6, 2008, I was escorted into a conference room in which approximately 20 DAI employees were present. This was different from subsequent meetings, which were held in a secure suite designated for DAI employees working on the Cuba Project.

His proposal to DAI

I developed a proposal, known as "ICT4Cuba," or its trade name, "Para La Isla," that addressed all of the requirements ofDAI's RFP, particularly the goal of facilitating media access for faith~based groups. Specifically, I chose to focus on Cuba's small Jewish community; I proposed loaning ICT devices such as cell phones, wireless technologies, personal computers, BGANS, and other computer network devices to local community members at each project site, testing the equipment, and then training citizens to use the equipment.

His naivette

After my arrest, I was informed by Cuban Government officials that it was illegal in Cuba to distribute anything funded in whole or in part by USAID. At no point before or during the ICT Project was I aware or warned that activities contemplated by this USAID and DAl-sponsored project were crimes in Cuba.

Applications

During my trips to Cuba, I had significant success in connecting members of the small Cuban Jewish community to the rest of the world.

For example, some of my Cuban contacts were able to have video conferences with friends and relatives in Israel and other parts of the world, using Skype.

Similarly, one of the synagogues that I worked with was able to download the weekly Torah readings from the Internet.

Other Cuban Jews used the equipment to access Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica in Spanish.

Still others were able to download anti-virus programs, to protect the computers that they already had.

His openess

During none of my trips to Cuba did I attempt to conceal the equipment in my possession. Each time I arrived at the airport in Havana, airport security and Cuban Customs officials inspected all of my bags, including those containing the equipment. I even told them that the equipment was for the purpose of using computer systems inside synagogues.

DAI wiped his laptop

... several days after my arrest in Cuba, Jack McCarthy (DAI project leader) contacted Judy, who naturally was completely distraught emotionally about my arrest, and told her that DAI needed to take my personal laptop from my home and "wipe" certain information from it, for my own "protection."

DAI came to my house, left with my laptop, and advised Judy to come to DAI to retrieve the laptop within the following week.

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Update 9/19/2014

Alan Gross lost his case in 2013, but he appealed the decision today. It would be good for his family if he were to prevail, but would it make any difference to the Cuban government?

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Update 11/14/2014

Alan Gross settled with DAI for undisclosed terms, but a U.S. district court rejected his claim against the government. Today, a federal appeals court in Washington upheld that decision.

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Update 12/26/2014

Alan Gross received $3.2 million in a settlement with the company he contracted with and USAID:

The USAid said that an agreement reached in principle last month with Development Alternatives Inc of Bethesda, Maryland, had been made final this week.

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Update 4/6/2015

In what is evidently the final legal step in the Alan Gross case, the Supreme Court has rejected his appeal of the lower court verdict in his negligence suit against the US government. He has; however, reached a $3.2 million damages settlement with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI). Gross was a sub contractor to DAI on a USAID contract when he was apprehended bringing illegal satellite equipment into Cuba.

For discussion and analysis of the case and its impact, see these 12 posts beginning in February 2011.

Details of Alan Gross's "telco in a bag"

Tracy Eaton has written a terrific blog post on the project that landed Alan Gross in prison. Eaton has discovered and published documents that finally answer the question "what did Alan Gross actually do?"

The documents show that Gross smuggled in three backpack-sized "Telco's in a Bag," as shown above. He was paid $258,274 for that and had requested more money to continue the project, but was apprehended on his fifth trip to Cuba, before the project could be expanded. (On first reading, I did not see the total cost of the project to the US taxpayer).

The term "Telco in a Bag" is misleading. A better description would have been "a small local area network with a slow satellite connection to the Internet in a backpack."

"Telco in a Bag" no doubt sounded good to the people funding the project, but, as I have written earlier, it grossly overstates the power of the equipment Gross brought to Cuba. Had Gross succeeded, it would not have made a huge difference and, in failing, it provided the Cuban government with a propaganda "threat" that it has blown out of proportion.

Read the post and documents over and let us know what you think.

A conversation with a Cuban telecommunication engineer

I asked for input and test runs from people in Cuba in a recent post, and I've had an interesting email conversation with a telecommunication engineer who says he has never worked in that field. He asked me not to share his name or email address.

We talked about Internet access. He says only foreign people with permanent resident visas, foreign students, and business with foreign capital can get Internet accounts, and that those dial up accounts have all ports open.

Enterprises throughout the country can get DSL connections, but they are limited to Web (HTTP) applications. He has also heard rumors that pro-government bloggers get DSL connections.

He told me that Cubans are not allowed to connect to the Internet from their homes so they pay an illegal fee of 1.50 to 2.00 CUC per hour to buy time from foreign students and others who have dial-up accounts. (One CUC = US$1.08 and the average wage is 20 CUC per month).

It is legal to buy a WiFi card (if you can find one in stock) and connect at one of a few hotels in Havana or Varadero with WiFi connectivity. They charge 8 CUC per hour for access to a 128 kb/s link that is shared by all of the hotel users at the time. The second legal option is to go to a Cyber-Café or hotel which charges 2 CUC for 15 minutes of access to PC with "veeery slow" connectivity.

Education centers like universities and medical schools are connected by fiber. Within the organizations they have 100 mb/s LANs behind NATs. He recalls a time when the university he attended (I won't say which one) had only 512 kb/s connectivity for approximately 1,000 PCs. That was eventually stepped up to 2 mb/s.

He is on point-to-point Ethernet connection to enet.cu, and is able to trace the route from his dial-up connection to Google via a Newcom International satellite link. Average ping time to Google was 683 ms. Ping times to other machines at enet.cu averaged 110 ms.

He did not want to run many tests, because he feared surveillance by CuCERT. Like their counterparts in other nations, CuCERT is charged with responding to network security incidents, but he characterizes them as being like "cyber-cops, who can enter your house, pick up your HDs and walk away without previous notification."

(I tried to reach cucert.cu, but could not from the US -- not sure if it is blocked or down or both).

He gave me the IP address of a university server that was running network monitoring software. I could see graphs of traffic on the links to the university, the internal Ethernet LAN, temperature, and disk utilization on several servers. I could also reach the help desk, but resisted the urge to submit a help desk ticket request :-). You see a sample traffic graph above (click on it to enlarge it). The green line is incoming traffic and the blue outgoing. As you see, the 2 mb/s link is pretty well saturated -- surfing must be slow.

It feels cool to see the graphs, and I bet they would be upset to know that they were visible, but they are not of much practical value except to the network administrators at that university. If one could get similar statistics from all Cuban universities, one could begin to stitch together a picture of the backbone networks.

He also confirmed that bootleg satellite TV from the US is common and found in almost all parts of the country. People buy a satellite receiver from a local supplier who gets an account from the US. Some of those people sell service to their neighbors using coaxial cable, although he thinks that activity is decreasing after several antenna seizures. The service costs around 10 CUC per month, and the viewers cannot change channels themselves.

There are "muyyyy" few people with HughesNet Internet links, and they are heavily prosecuted and can go to jail if caught. He said WiFi is everywhere, and is mainly used to share music and videos and play games. He said the government is concerned about that, but I don't understand why since WiFi is local, and I doubt that they are concerned with copyright violation on the music and video :-).

We talked a bit about the Alan Gross case. He thinks the trial and sentence were for political reasons, and the government hopes to do a prisoner exchange. Gross got a long sentence, but a Cuban could get 3-5 years for having a satellite link to the Internet. He said there are some people with satellite connection who provide service to others using WiFi access points and repeaters and homemade antennae, but, as mentioned above, that is risky business.

If you are in Cuba, how does your experience compare to what I've just described?

The US and Cuba both overestimate the impact of small Internet ground stations

The Alan Gross case has been in the news, but Phil Peters just posted a description of another attempt to smuggle satellite Internet ground stations on his blog the Cuban Triangle. The ground stations were the type used by people in rural areas who cannot get cable or DSL connections, and the antennae were disguised as surf boards. Peters summarizes the failed attempt and links to a Spanish language post with several photos of the equipment and a Cuban TV program on the project:

• Granma coverage of the smuggling attempt
• Cubadebate coverage of the smuggling attempt
• Video on the smuggling attempt with English subtitles part 1 and part 2.

Let's put these smuggling attempts in context. In my recent report on the state of the Internet in Cuba, I observed that there were reportedly over 300,000 mobile phones (2008) and 455,000 Internet-connected computers (2009) in Cuba.

How many cell phones, laptops or ground stations could Gross or this project have brought in without attracting attention? Had these efforts succeeded, they would have had a negligible marginal impact -- they would have been minuscule drops in the bucket. Both the US and Cuba appear to have grossly overestimated the possible impact of this equipment.

As I have shown in an earlier post, low-speed satellite ground stations are quite limited, but the Cuban government has reported that they represent a serious threat. In doing so, they have scored a public relations victory -- showing Cuban citizens that they have defended them against a "major" cyber attack.

The US also overestimates the value of personal Internet ground stations. The State Department budget request for Cuba is $20 million for fiscal year 2011. Those funds will be used to

continue to promote self-determined democracy in Cuba. Funds will be used to provide humanitarian assistance to political prisoners, their families, and other victims of repression; advance human rights; strengthen independent civil society organizations; and support information sharing into and out of Cuba.

I don't know what percent of their budget goes toward the "support of information sharing" using Internet ground stations, but it would have to cover the cost of the equipment, travel and expenses, bandwidth charges, overhead charges, etc. On top of these financial costs, there is the possibility of failure and the subsequent PR cost. It is hard to know what they hoped to achieve in these cases, and easy to think of alternative ways to use the funds.

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I got the Cuba budget figure for the State Department here.

The clandestine TV reception discussed in the comments of this post seem much more important than a few Internet links. How many Cubans see foreign TV? What do Cubans watch? How does it influence them?

What did Alan Gross actually do?

Alan Gross and his wife Judy

The trial of Alan Gross, who was arrested in December 2009, has begun in Havana. Gross is accused of working on a USAID contract to bring illegal equipment into Cuba for distribution to NGOs.

I can readily believe that USAID might have commissioned such a project -- they are pretty open about their goals and funding programs -- but I can't get a fix on exactly what Gross allegedly brought in. I've read cryptic statements saying he brought:

• Sophisticated satellite communications equipment, Raúl Castro quoted in the Washington post
  
• Cell phones, laptops and other communications equipment, Marc Lacey and Ginger Thompson, NY Times
  
• BGAN Satellite ground stations, Elsa Claro, El Progresso

The court proceedings are closed to the public and press, but let's assume he brought it all -- cell phones, laptops, and BGAN ground stations, and that he was doing so on a USAID contract. How much damage could he have done?

Cell phones and laptops are increasingly available in Cuba, so those he might have brought would not have made a significant difference.

What about BGAN ground stations, which can be used for clandestine Internet connectivity? I discussed the limited capability of BGAN equipment in a previous post -- a few BGAN ground stations would have no practical impact. (Elsa Claro speculated that they could be used for encrypted messages perhaps containing bombing coordinates, but so could any other IP-connected computer in Cuba -- see, for example, this post).

Without taking a position on the right or of the US and USAID to meddle in Cuban affairs, the efficacy of that meddling or Alan Gross' motives, it seems clear that what he allegedly tried to do would not have made a difference even if he had succeeded.

Is this man a specialist in cybernetic counterintelligence?

Eduardo Fontes Suárez

A 53 minute video of Eduardo Fontes Suárez giving a presentation on the US attempts at cyber war against Cuba was recently leaked and put online. I won't say more about that because you can read an excellent discussion of its content and likely authenticity here. You can also read a transcript in English or in Spanish.

I will focus on the part of the talk during which Fontes Suárez, who is a "specialist in cybernetic counterintelligence," describes a plot by the US to smuggle ten BGAN satellite terminals into Cuba on order to provide unfettered Internet access by NGOs, bloggers and others.

Fontes Suárez seems to have little knowledge of the technology he is describing, which leads him to grossly overstate its capability.

Fontes Suárez says there are "10 BGAN terminals in different parts of the country" and "These ten terminals are around wireless networks which already existed".  Wow -- ten pre-existing wireless networks with unfettered Internet access sounds like it might be a big deal, but let's look further.

How big are these ten wireless networks? The fastest BGAN terminal is capable of "up to" 492 kbps and subject to the usual high latency of a satellite link. So these "wireless networks" are actually just WiFi hot spots with users sharing a slow, high-latency connection. One user may be able to watch a Netflix video or carry on a VoIP conversation, but if there were, say three or four, they would be restricted to very slow Web surfing or text applications.

Fontes Suárez also refers to people sitting at home and seeing a message pop up that says "you're connected to the Internet." He envisions them as pleasantly surprised and happily "logging on" and starting to search, surf and download. Given this description, I get the feeling that he has never used WiFi.

He goes on to talk about connecting 25-30 machines using WiFi. For a start, 492 kbps/25 = 20 kbps. Web sites are unusable at that speed. He goes on to say the 25-30 machines can be spread out over a half mile to a mile. WiFi is designed for small, local area networks. A WiFi link connecting only one user who was half a mile away would take large antennas with line of sight visibility. Even if the 25 machines were in the same room as the access point, the contention for the limited number of WiFi channels and the access point protocols would slow them to a crawl.

He says the minimum number of users of a BGAN terminal is five. Is there a minimum? Does the equipment refuse to work if there are only four users? When BGAN speaks of five users, they are all assumed to be in the same room as or very close to the base station. If there were five users, remember that they would be sharing a high-latency link of "up to" 492 kbps.

Fontes Suárez also asserts that "in Havana there are thousands of wireless computers connected in any neighborhood, from Playa to San Miguel del Padron" and that kids are using them to play games and university students are using them to study collaboratively. Ten BGAN links in different parts of the country would not be of much use to these "thousands" of computers.

I do not know how widespread WiFi is in Havana or elsewhere in Cuba, but I am skeptical of this image of somewhat ubiquitous WiFi in homes and university dorms. I do know that computer ownership and Internet connection rates are low in Cuba. I also know that there would be little reason to have a WiFi access point that was connected to the Internet via a dial-up line.

It also seems that one must register a WiFi LAN. At the MIC Web site, under the heading "Wireless Networks," we see that registration is required:

Los equipos y dispositivos auxiliares que componen estos sistemas están sujetos a la obtención de un certificado de homologación otorgado por el Ministerio de la Informática y las Comunicaciones (MIC), y podrán ser sometidos a los procedimientos de medición y comprobación de sus parámetros por los laboratorios que designe ese ministerio.

The application form is here. (Note that it describes the radios as spread spectrum in frequency band 2456 to 2482 MHz. The frequency is not exactly WiFi -- this may be a typo or indicate some non-standard technology). Does anyone know whether this registration requirement is actually enforced?

Finally, Fontes Suárez claims that BGAN terminals use "linear transmission," which he claims is difficult to detect and it surely sounds nefarious, but what does that piece of snow/jargon mean?

Some have questioned the authenticity of this leak - it may be a plant. One never knows, but it is hard for me to believe that Fontes Suárez is a specialist in cybernetic counterintelligence.