US Opposes New Cable to Cuba

 

U.S. Justice Recommends Preventing Submarine Cable from Connecting U.S. with Cuba

The ARCOS-1 USA Inc. underwater cable system made the request to the FCC to adapt its network to include the first and only connection of its kind between the U.S. and Cuba

 

The U.S. Department of Justice recommended Wednesday to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny a permit for  the installation of the first submarine telecommunications cable that would connect the United States with Cuba.

The Cuban government represents a "counterintelligence threat" to the US and, given that the state communications company Etecsa would manage the cable landing system, Havana could "access sensitive US data traveling through the new cable segment," the US Justice explained in a statement cited by the Efe agency.

"As long as the Government of Cuba remains a counterintelligence threat to the United States and is allied with others doing the same, the risks to our infrastructure are simply very great," Deputy Homeland Security Attorney Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement.

According to the Department of Justice, Cuba's relations with other "foreign adversaries" such as China or Russia, represent a risk to the government if there were such a connection.

Olsen noted that the U.S., however, "supports a secure, reliable and open Internet network around the world, including Cuba."

The ARCOS-1 USA Inc. underwater cable system made the request to the FCC to adapt its network to include the first and only connection of its kind between the U.S. and Cuba.

The ARCOS-1 network connects 24 landing points in 15 countries on the continent, including the U.S., Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico.

The U.S. has criticized Cuba's government for limiting internet access on the island, especially after protests erupted on the island this summer. Havana, for its part, maintains that the embargo imposed by the US governments has prevented it from accessing any of the dozens of cables that pass near its coasts.

Efe/OnCuba.

U.S. Justice Recommends Preventing Submarine Cable from Connecting U.S. with Cuba | OnCubaNews