A group of exiled Cuban activists in the United States is planning a fireworks display off Cuba's coast to demand Internet access and freedom of expression on the island on Saturday, Aug. 11, according to the EFE news agency.
A group of activists from the Miami-based Democracy Movement will launch a boat from south Florida and travel up to the edge of Cuban waters to fire "freedom lights" to protest the Cuban people's lack of Internet access, the organization announced via ImpreMedia.
In a press conference, Democracy Movement President Ramón Saúl Sánchez alleged that the Cuban government denies the island's population Internet access, despite the installation of a fiber-optic cable connecting Cuba and Venezuela, and the Venezuelan government's announcement that the infrastructure is operational, according to Diario de Cuba.
Cuba currently ranks as one of the 10 most-censored countries in the world. The island's Internet providers regularly block content that pertains to the government, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
