Today, the representative María Elvira Salazar ( R-FL ) sent a letter to President Biden warning him of the violence planned by the Cuban regime during the protests on November 15 and asked the Administration to be prepared for when the regime cuts the Internet on the island. The letter expresses the frustration of the Cuban-American community at the Administration's delay in providing the Internet to the Cuban people after the regime disconnected it on July 11, after the historic anti-government protests on the island.
"I have met with a wide range of interested private parties on the provision of the Internet to the Cuban people and for months I have begged the State Department and the Administration to also do your due diligence", representative Salazar said in the letter. "It is essential that they meet with all private stakeholders and relevant government officials to defend connectivity to a reliable Internet for the island of Cuba. If it does not, it is a lack of support for the Cuban people".
In August, Representative Salazar presented Operation Starfall, a plan to provide the Internet from abroad to help expose the regime when it disconnects that of its citizens. In September, Representative Salazar requested that the House add Operation Starfall to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, but House Democrats blocked consideration of the plan.
During a recent hearing of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, the deputy undersecretary of the United States Department of State, Emily Mendrala, officially stated that the State Department would report to Congress on its progress in providing the Internet to Cuba in late October. To date, the Administration State Department has not kept this promise.
To read the full letter, click here.
Background:
Operation Starfall, presented by Representative Salazar, is a strategic plan to deploy stratospheric balloons, aerostats or satellite technology capable of quickly delivering wireless Internet anywhere on the planet from great heights. With the use of emerging technologies that already exist in the private sector, it can be used to create wireless Internet networks that cover a particular geographic territory. In the United States, Operation Starfall could be implemented after floods, hurricanes, or forest fire devastation when local communications infrastructure is disabled.
Operation Starfall leverages American innovation to empower citizens and strengthen democracy by exposing regimes that repress access to information and violate fundamental Human Rights. In the wake of the historic July protests in Cuba, the brutal communist regime closed all Internet access on the Island while torturing and imprisoning peaceful pro-democracy protesters.
Original source can be found here.
