By Miami Herald
The fiber-optic cable between Cuba and Venezuela, long and eagerly awaited by Cubans as a speedy new ramp onto the Internet, is “in full operation” but only between the two governments, according to news reports and experts.
Cubans now have the slowest and most expensive access to the Internet in Latin America because their connections must go through satellites rather than far faster and cheaper fiber-optic cables.
That was supposed to change with the $70 million ALBA-1 fiber-optic cable, laid under the Caribbean from Venezuela to Siboney beach near the southeastern city of Santiago de Cuba and paid for largely by leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
