García Pérez on OCB’s Digital Outreach to Cuba
The Office of Cuba Broadcasting is using a range of new and emerging technologies to reach the Cuban people, OCB Director Carlos García Pérez told a conference in Washington.
“They are thirsty for information. They are thirsty for technology. Our big issue is access,” García Pérez said during a conference on the need for technological change in Cuba. He said, for example, Radio and TV Marti content is being distributed in Cuba via DVDs, flash drives and mobile devices.
Google Ideas and the Heritage Foundation co-sponsored the half-day program which included Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as well as panel discussions on suppression of the Internet in Cuba and promoting uncensored information to Cubans.
García Pérez focused his remarks on the insights Cubans who have recently arrived in the U.S. have provided in terms of the changes in the Cuban media marketplace, particularly the growing use of mobile technologies and the Internet.
Other speakers included, Mike Gonzalez, Vice President, Communications, The Heritage Foundation and Jared Cohen, Director, Google Ideas. Jim Glassman, Executive Director of the Bush Institute and former BBG Chairman, moderated the discussion of new media avenues in Cuba as well as the censorship of the media and the Internet. Glassman authored a related commentary in Forbes.
Watch the conference: Cuba Needs a (Technological) Revolution: How the Internet Can Thaw an Island Frozen in Time.