Since Fidel’s (Castro) departure from office and his brother Raul’s succession, bans on Cubans buying consumer electronics, cell phones and staying in luxury hotels have been lifted. But these activities which used to be illegal were common place – the difference is that now, they’re legalized. Many Cubans have been buying these technologies on the black market. Internet access is still tightly restricted by government, but that hasn’t stopped people from getting online.

While this definitely isn’t the case in a communist regime, many democratic countries are looking at using Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate collaboration and engagement with its citizens:

1. Citizens as consumers of government services
2. Citizens as employees of the public service
3. Citizens as stakeholders in the policy making process.

While this isn’t a practice that is endorsed in Cuba, it hasn’t stopped its citizens from using different Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs to make a difference and reach out not only within their own country – but around the world.

The web has become an outlet for Cubans to voice opinions on their government and provide outsiders a glimpse inside their country.

However, starting something like a blog isn’t an easy task. One Cuban blog that has gained quite a bit of popularity over the past year is Generacion Y written by Yoani Sanchez. It hasn’t been easy for Sanchez to keep up her blog. She needs to dress like a tourist and sneak into hotels that have Web access at $6/hour – while average salaries in Cuba are around $20/month.

The black market in Cuba for digital electronics and dial-up internet is quite extensive, with thousands of Cubans paying around $40/ month for access bought through third parties overseas or stolen by foreign providers. And blogs like Sanchez’s have amassed a decent following inside and outside of Cuba.
As Sanchez writes on her blog these changes are irreversible and the Cuban government will find that it will be increasingly difficult to control its citizens’ actions now that they’ve gotten a real ‘legal’ taste of the Web.

for more on the Generacion Y blog and others, see the Globe and Mail articel here.