Cuban Government Lifts Censorship Against Revolico

Cuban Government Lifts Censorship Against Revolico / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata

14ymedio,Zunilda Mata, Havana, 12 August 2016 — With the same discretion
that eight years ago led the government to censor a popular Cuban
version of Craigslist, it has now lifted its electronic blocking,
without any announcement or public statements. The news of the unlocking
the Revolico, a site filled with classified ads, has revolutionized the
wifi connection sites.

Access to Revolico is also possible now from the computers in the Nauta
internet rooms managed by the government-run Cuban Telecommunications
Company (ETECSA), according to what this newspaper was able to confirm.

In several Havana hotels that offer internet access to their guests from
terminals in the lobby, one can go directly to Revolico’s home page,
navigate its menu options and look at the classified ads without any
hitches.

However, users of Infomed, managed by the Ministry of Public Health,
complain that Revolico remains inaccessible from servers at that
institution.

Despite the government’s long-standing censorship of Revolico, it became
the leading classified site on the island. Its main attraction is the
vast assortment of ads – 16 million accumulated from the start – for
property, the buying and selling of technology, job offers, and every
kind of home appliance, all scarce on the country’s store shelves, can
be found on their pages.

The well-known “weekly packet” distributed in the informal market each
week, for years has included a copy of Revolico intended for users
without internet access, a solution that facilitates the posting of ads
via email and has helped increase users to the current 300,000 unique
visitors a month.

Hiram Centelles, cofounder of Revolico, is satisfied with the new
situation of the site and already anticipates possible improvements. “In
the near future we will launch a new version of the product and
platform, and we are getting many more users in Cuba, now that the site
is unblocked. Our goal is to continue providing the best classified ad
service to Cubans, as we have done these past eight years,” he told
14ymedio.

Several digital sites that have been censored for years, such as
14ymedio, still remain inaccessible, unless the surfer uses an anonymous
proxy anonymous or other tricks to circumvent censorship.

Source: Cuban Government Lifts Censorship Against Revolico / 14ymedio,
Zunilda Mata – Translating Cuba –
translatingcuba.com/cuban-government-lifts-censorship-against-revolico-14ymedio-zunilda-mata/