In 2016, Etecsa – the only telephone company in Cuba – installed wifi routers in 18 public parks across the country. For many Cubans, this meant they were able to go online for the first time. This portrait of one wifi park in Havana shows how it has become a new kind of meeting place: every day crowds of people with smartphones, tablets and chairs turn up to cluster together around the wifi antennas, to a soundtrack of shouts of ‘conectifai!” meaning ‘connection’. In the meantime, a very Cuban type of commerce is also flourishing, with vendors selling internet cards, drinks and snacks, and shouting slogans such as ‘Pork crackling with wifi!’ Here, everyone has an opportunity to contact loved ones, explore social media, upload photos and find internet dates – very normal activities that reveal a rapidly changing Cuba
Key credits
Director and producer: Zoe Garcia
Producer and Sound: Sheyla Pool
Editor: Emmanuel Peña
Executive producers for the Guardian: Charlie Phillips and Lindsay Poulton
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