Cuba to receive high speed internet connection from Venezuela

July 18, 2008 Documents leaked on Wikileaks and seen by Wikinews have revealed that Cuba signed a confidential deal with Venezuela to ensure that Cuba gets access to a high speed internet connection by 2010.

The document stated, in Spanish, that the countries aim to "build and operate a line of fiber optic cables between Venezuela and Cuba." Julian Assange, an investigative editor on Wikileaks, claimed that the information in the documents "adds weight to Cuban statements that the United States economic embargo of the island has forced it to rely on slow and expensive satellite links for Internet connectivity."

The document then says that cable will "extend between two terminals located at the coast of both countries."

Information week has reported that the cable is expected to cost several million US dollars. They base this on a fact that a cable between Cuba and Florida, which is a much shorter distance than between Cuba and Venezuela, would cost half a million dollars. The US government has prevented the building of the Florida cable.