Cuban president Raul Castro has lifted the country’s ban on the sale of petit bourgeois merchandise like computers, DVDs, video players and other consumer electronics goods. What does that mean to you as an internet user? Do you see an opportunity for your products to be sold in this socialist country of 11million population? Or do you see an opportunity to have a relationship with Cuban women? Can you chat or date Cuban women online? Previously electronic devices and appliances were classified as wasteful items.

The answers to these questions are rather negative. Reason being the computer is still beyond the reach of an average Cuban. It is still consider expensive to most Cuba peoples. The GDP per capita in Cuba is around US$3,000. Furthermore, access to the internet remains government-controlled. Assuming that the abovementioned barriers are removed, one still have to be proficient in Spanish if you want to make your present felt in Cuba. For your information, there are 240,000 internet users as of August 2007, around 2.1% of the population, according to ITU. Many internet marketers may not see Cuba as an attractive market.

In the past, government-run electronics stores have controlled what products could be sold to Cuban citizens. The legal purchase of a PC was often only authorized and within the financial means of foreigners and diplomats. Cuba’s proles must wait until next year before they can buy air conditioners, however. The dark influence of toasters won’t be seen until 2010 — allegedly due to limited power supplies.

“The country’s priority will be to meet the basic needs of the population, both material and spiritual,” Raul Castro said when he took office. The signal is clear that easy internet access will not his first priority because internet access is not fall under “basic needs” in most of the countries.