Cuba-Venezuela Communications Project on the Move

Venezuelan and Cuban specialists have finished mapping out a 1,550 kilometer highway of underwater fiber-optics cable linking the two countries. Two pairs of fiber-optics cables will run from the Venezuelan state of Vargas to the province of Santiago de Cuba, potentially increasing the island’s international communications capacity by 3,000 times upon completion by 2010. Wilfredo Morales, who heads the Gran Caribe Telecommunications Co. —a joint venture created to manage the project—, said the cable will break the US blockade that forces the island to use more expensive and vulnerable satellite services for connections abroad. The idea to connect Cuba and Venezuela by sea goes far beyond laying more than 1,500 kilometers of cable. In addition to the technical challenges of placing the cable that will lie in areas as deep as 5,400 meters, the top coordinator for Venezuela, Lilian Rivas, spoke about the political elements involved: “the issue of territorial waters, the blockade and the search for reliable suppliers If it weren’t for the blockade Cuba could connect for a cost of US $500,000. The companies can’t do it because they don’t have permission from the US Department of State and/or attempts by the State Department to impose unacceptable conditions on Cuba,” said Carlos Orfila, an engineer working as a project consultant to the Venezuelan Ministry of Telecommunications.