‘La fea más bella’ a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro?

Don’t pity the Cubans too much. It turns out a lot of them (and I’m talking about the ones living in the island) are just as “lucky” as the rest of us: they tuned in for the grand finale of La fea más bella; watch their sports on ESPN; their music videos on VH1 and even tune into Univision’s nightly noticiero for a “fair and balance” news coverage.

An article this week in the Christian Science Monitor follows several Cubans in Havana who own satellite TV services (which are banned in the country) paying sometimes as much as $20 for a service that can get them into jail.

In the article the Cuban government states that it has stepped up efforts to crack down on these service providers, but almost 40 percent of households in Havana were connected to the service when the police began the raids in March.

Asked about a media report in which the Cuban government said satellite TV is a U.S. plot to overthrow Fidel Castro, a researcher at the University of Havana simply said that was an overreaction. “Watching La fea más bella is not an act of opposition against the state. It is not a political attitude. It is a phenomenon of free time.”