US, Cuba re-establish direct telephone calls
Cuba and the United States have re-established a direct telephone link in the latest move toward normalizing decades of unfriendly relations.
Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (ETECSA), the country’s national telecommunications company, said in a statement on Wednesday, “The [resumption] of direct communications between the United States and Cuba contributes to offer greater opportunities and better quality in the communications between the people of both nations.”
The re-establishment was announced on February 20 as part of an agreement of services between ETECSA and IDT Domestic Telecom, Inc., an American company.
The deal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after a 10-day review, making IDT the only US telecom carrier to have a direct connection to Cuba, the company said.
Direct calls were cut in 1999, and calls between the US and Cuba had to pass through a third country, making the calls more expensive and poorer in quality.
However, postal service between the two countries remains cut off.
The establishment of direct calls is the first agreement signed between Cuban and American companies since US President Barack Obama's December announcement that the two countries would renew their ties after more than 50 years of hostility.
On December 17, President Obama announced that Washington will start talks with Cuba to normalize diplomatic relations, marking the most significant shift in US foreign policy towards the country in over 50 years.
Around two million Cuban-Americans live in the US. Many of them rely on the internet to stay in touch with their friends and families in Cuba, and some rely on phone calls to contact them.
Cuba and the US have not had diplomatic relations since 1961. However, Washington has maintained an interest section on the island.
They became ideological foes soon after the 1959 revolution in Cuba that brought Fidel Castro to power.
The United States imposed a partial trade embargo on the Caribbean island nation in October 1960. Washington imposed a full trade embargo, which is still largely in place, on Cuba in February 1962.
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