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Venezuela, Cuba to fight U.S. embargo

HAVANA: Cuba and Venezuela will install an undersea optical fibre cable connecting the two countries to counter U.S. embargo, Cuba’s official daily Granma reported.

The cable will have a total capacity of 640 gigabytes with 320 for each optical fibre, increasing by 3,000 times Cuba’s data, voice and video transmission capacity with other countries, said Carlos Orfilia, Venezuelan official adviser of the project.

He said advanced technology would be used to guarantee Cuba and Venezuela’s independence in telecommunications.

This project will end Cuba’s dependence on satellites services made expensive due to the U.S. embargo, said Wilfredo Morales, director of the Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe Commpany, the Cuba-Venezuela joint venture created to build and operate the planned cable.

The U.S. embargo has prevented other telecommunication companies from connecting lines to Cuba, like that of Miami-Cancun, which is only 32 km away from pier of Havana. Experts said the fibre will be as thick as a human hair and covered with a special material to protect it against sharks. — Xinhua

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