Cuba lifts ban on sale of computers to public

Published on Saturday 3 May 2008 19:42

CUBA is going all PC. The island's communist government has put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro.

A tower-style QTECH PC and monitor costs nearly 390. While few Cubans can afford that, dozens still gawked outside a tiny Havana electronics store, crowding every inch of its large glass windows.

Inside, four clerks tore open boxes, hastily assembling display computers. By the time a sign went up listing the PCs specifications, more than a dozen shoppers were lined up to buy.

The grey and black QTECHs, complete with DVD players, bulky monitors and standard-issue keyboards, are the only model available. The Cuban PCs have Intel Celeron processors with 80 gigabytes of memory and 512 RAM, and are equipped with Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. Both could be violations of a US trade embargo, but not something Washington can do anything about in the absence of diplomatic relations with Havana.

Clerks at the store in Carlos III shopping centre, which is the only outlet in the country now selling the PCs, said the computers were assembled by Cuban companies using parts imported from China.

Employees at a few other government-run stores – where Cubans must buy all their goods – said they expect to receive deliveries sometime after next week.

Except for some trusted officials and state journalists, most Cubans are banned from accessing the internet at home.

However, some people manage to buy limited e-mail access on the black market, usually sharing an account with the authorised holder, who usually works for the state.