Cubans Get the Right to Legally Purchase PCs

The Cuban government has just authorized personal computer sales across the island, putting an end to the previous restrictions on technology. The introduction of personal computers comes shortly after the communist government lifted a ban on mobile telecommunications.

Since the United States government is still holding the technology embargo on miscellaneous technologies, the only available model is a tower-style QTECH PC and monitor selling for about $782. However, the computer comes with extremely low technical specifications, including an Intel Celeron processor, 80 GB of storage space on a conventional hard-disk drive and 512 MB of RAM. The systems run on Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, which could violate the trade embargo.

More than that, the average income for a Cuban worker is situated around $20 per month, which means that only a few persons would afford buying these pieces of hardware. Despite their expensive price tags, the computers are too appealing to go unnoticed and gathered a pretty large crowd in a line.

According to the distributing company, the computers have been assembled using parts imported from China. However, the presence of an Intel CPU and Microsoft's operating system can be regarded as violations of the US technology embargo, but the American government can't do anything since it has cut down any diplomatic relationships with Havana.

"It's good for playing games", said 14 year-old Brian Brito. The kid has been saving his allowance money for more than two years in order to buy a computer. His mother thinks that he would use the newly purchased equipment for homework and entertainment, although the Cuban people is currently forbidden to access the Internet.

Prior to the new law, Cubans could only buy computers from the black market at similar prices. Moreover, limited e-mail access was also available and many Cubans would share an account with the legal holder (a government employee or a journalist with the state).


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