A youth uses his smartphone as he and a friend walk along the Malecon seawall in Havana, Cuba, on November 25, 2022. Ever-widening access to the internet is offering a new opportunity for Cubans looking for hard-to-obtain basic goods: online shopping. Photo: AP
Cubans turn to Telegram, WhatsApp and other internet services as illegal online markets flourish
- Group messaging has become one popular avenue for people to find goods unavailable in stores as internet usage booms on the communist-governed island
- President Miguel Diaz-Canel has called for a crackdown on revendedores, or resellers, referring to them as ‘criminals’ and ‘swindlers’
A youth uses his smartphone as he and a friend walk along the Malecon seawall in Havana, Cuba, on November 25, 2022. Ever-widening access to the internet is offering a new opportunity for Cubans looking for hard-to-obtain basic goods: online shopping. Photo: AP