Havana (AFP)
"Lies", "manipulation", "subversion": Raul Castro, who on Monday ceded the reins of the Cuban Communist Party, does not mince his words about the Internet, which has become the favorite weapon of the opposition.
The country of 11.2 million people has long been one of the least connected in the world.
Everything changed with the arrival of mobile internet at the end of 2018: adoption was dazzling among residents, 4.2 million of whom now use 3G.
But while President Miguel Diaz-Canel, successor to Raul Castro at the head of the party, boasted of encouraging "the computerization of society", he quickly became disillusioned, faced with unprecedented social unrest ... and now visible from abroad.
On Monday, while 300 party delegates gathered in congress in Havana, an amateur video showing the arrest of dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, in a poor area of the capital, went viral on social networks.
Dozens of activists, independent journalists and artists complained, via Twitter, of being prevented by the police from leaving their homes, a technique generally used by the authorities to block any gathering.
Others said they were deprived of telephone and internet, relying on loved ones to deliver their message online.
- November, key moment -
For Ted Henken, American sociologist and author of the forthcoming book "Cuba's digital revolution", "there is a struggle in Cuba over who will have control of digital technologies and we don't know how it will end".
"After the arrival of 3G, mobilizations both online and in the street increased, and it became more frequent after November, with more and more impact and a very strong response from the government," he recounts.
November 2020 marked a before and after: for ten days, the protest movement San Isidro (led by Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara) took refuge in a house to demand the release of a rapper, filming itself via Facebook and winning a audience even across borders.
After their expulsion, some 300 artists demonstrated on November 27 in front of the Ministry of Culture, calling for messages relayed via social networks, to demand more freedom of expression, unheard of in Cuba.
For Raul Castro, behind these eddies hides the enemy of always: Washington.
"Let us not forget that the American government has created a + Working Group on the Internet in Cuba + (founded in 2018 by the State Department, nldr) which aims to transform social networks into channels of subversion," he said. he assures.
"However, the truth is quite different: the internal counter-revolution, which has no social base, no leadership or capacity for mobilization, has fewer and fewer members and socially strong actions, so it focuses its activism on social networks and the internet ".
- "To be on the offensive" -
Present at the congress, the octogenarian poet Miguel Barnet launched in the same direction: "May the enemy not be mistaken (...), here the Revolution is not on social networks, it is in the streets".
As a precaution, however, the party adopted a resolution to strengthen "revolutionary activism on social networks".
It is necessary "to be on the offensive", hammered Saturday the head of the ideological department, Victor Gaute, replaced since.
And last week, the State Council approved a new decree to regulate telecommunications aimed at "defending the achievements of the socialist state", but the details of which are not yet known.
On several occasions in recent months, Twitter has suspended accounts of Cuban media and official bodies, as well as simple activists, for violating its rules on "manipulation".
For ex-diplomat Carlos Alzugaray, the government's use of the Internet as a "propaganda tool" is not the most judicious.
"Often on ministers' Twitter accounts, it's just a repeat of what the president says on his account."
Especially since it is not only dissent that surfs the internet: animal rights activists, gay rights activists or young Cubans tired of queues in front of stores also express themselves in this way, without political inclination.
Michael Bustamante, professor at Florida International University, criticizes this "binary" approach of government, because what is happening on social media is also a reflection of a reality: "Talk to anyone in the street to Cuba today, and he will tell you that frustration and pessimism are widespread, ”he tweeted.
© 2021 AFP