{"id":5121,"date":"2008-04-15T19:23:30","date_gmt":"2008-04-15T19:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/04\/cubans-lined-up-on-monday-to-p.html"},"modified":"2008-04-15T19:23:30","modified_gmt":"2008-04-15T19:23:30","slug":"cubans-lined-up-on-monday-to-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/04\/cubans-lined-up-on-monday-to-p.html","title":{"rendered":"Cubans lined up on Monday to purchase cellphones for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

This<\/a> is what freedom looks like: cellphones \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Lines stretched for blocks outside phone centers Monday as the government allowed ordinary Cubans to sign up for cellular phone service for the first time.
\nThe contracts cost about US$120 (euro76) to activate – half a year’s wages on the average state salary. And that doesn’t include a phone or credit to make and receive calls.
\nBut most Cubans have at least some access to dollars or euros thanks to jobs in tourism or with foreign firms, or money sent by relatives abroad. Lines formed before the stores opened, and waits grew to more than an hour.
\n“Everyone wants to be first to sign up,” said Usan Astorga, a 19-year-old medical student who stood for about 20 minutes before her line moved at all.
\nGetting through the day without a cell phone is unthinkable now in most developed countries, but Cuba’s government limited access to mobile phones and other so-called luxuries in an attempt to preserve the relative economic equality<\/strong> that is a hallmark of life on the communist-run island.
\n[…]
\nOnly foreigners and Cubans holding key government posts had been allowed to have cell phones since they first appeared here in 1991. Thousands of ordinary Cubans already had mobile phones through the black market, but could activate them only if foreigners agreed to lend their names to the contracts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I bet Castro had a cellphone but then some animals are more equal than others, right?
\nThank the Lord for capitalism where anyone can get a cellphone (except for Samantha who has to wait until we can afford it).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is what freedom looks like: cellphones \ud83d\ude42 Lines stretched for blocks outside phone centers Monday as the government allowed ordinary Cubans to sign up for cellular phone service for the first time. The contracts cost about US$120 (euro76) to activate – half a year’s wages on the average state salary. And that doesn’t include…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology-2"],"yoast_head":"\nCubans lined up on Monday to purchase cellphones for the first time - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/04\/cubans-lined-up-on-monday-to-p.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cubans lined up on Monday to purchase cellphones for the first time - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is what freedom looks like: cellphones \ud83d\ude42 Lines stretched for blocks outside phone centers Monday as the government allowed ordinary Cubans to sign up for cellular phone service for the first time. 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