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The Ministry of Communications or El
Ministerio de Comunicaciones is in charge
of the country's post offices and telephone
services. There are branches located all
over the country. In Havana there is a post
and telegraph office conveniently located
in the lobby of the Hotel Havana Libre
Building 23 and L Streets. Other post offices
in Havana can be found at the Estación
Central de Ferrocarriles on Avenida
Bélgica and Arsenal in Old Havana; at 23
Street at C in Vedado and in the Ministry
of Communications building on Avenida
de la Independencia between Plaza de la
Revolución and the bus station. Most tourist
hotels sell stamps.
In La Havana Vieja, dollar post offices
are at Oficios No. 102 on Plaza de
San Francisco de Asís, and in Centro
Havana in the Gran Teatro on Paseo de
Martí at the Capitolio end of the building.
Besides mailing correspondence, post and
telegraph offices offer the following services-fax,
telegrams and cables. You can buy stamps
(sellos) at hotels and post offices
(oficinas de Correos). In general,
postal rates are low. A letter to the U.S.
and Canada costs around 65¢, to Europe 75¢,
05¢ within the country, 65¢ to South America
and 65¢ to Central America. A postcard costs
around 50¢ to all countries.
It is better to send all correspondence
from Havana. Mailboxes are blue in Cuba.
Just as in the rest of Latin America, postal
service is unreliable and slow. Mail from
the provinces and other parts of the country
takes much longer to reach its overseas
destination. Even so, letters can take up
to a month to get to some foreign countries.
So, it is best to ask a tourist or someone
else to mail your correspondence abroad.
When mailing from Cuba it is advisable to
write the country destination in Spanish
to speed things up.
If you are sending parcels you might want
to try the international courier service
DHL (Tel: 33-4543, Fax: 33-5016)
for faster service. The main office is in
Havana at Aero Caribbean Calle 23
# 64 at "P" in Vedado. They have
another office at Calzada No. 818, between
Calles 2 and 4, near the Hotel Meliá Cohiba
(Tel: 33-4351). There are also branches
in other parts of the country. The rates
for a letter weighing less than 8 ounces
from the U.S. to Cuba are about $70 and
from Cuba to the U.S. around $25. It usually
takes about four business days for a letter
or package to reach Cuba from the U.S. and
three business days from Cuba to the U.S.
Obviously, if you are going to the U.S.
or Canada it is easier to mail your letters
or packages from there.
Cuba's telephone system is antiquated and
in need of an overhaul. Presently the country
only has about 350,000 telephone lines.
However, in an effort to modernize the Cuban
Telecommunications Company (ETECSA)
has started to expand service install new
digital exchanges in the country's main
cities. It is easy to make an international
call from a hotel. If you don't have a phone,
use the phone and fax office at the Havana
Libre or another hotel for long distances
or international calls. Some hotels have
direct dialing. In Havana, international
calls may also be made from the Minister
of Communications building at the Plaza
de la Revolución, 351 Obispo Street. Small
cities and towns have telephone offices
where both local and long distance calls
are made. Within Cuba, calls may be made
by dialing O, the city or area code and
local number. Public pay phones are all
over the country but can't be used for international
calls and service is poor. They accept Cuban
coins or centavos. Rates are determined
by distance. Local rates are 20-50 cents
(USD) and long distance within Cuba costs
$1.00-$2.00. Long distance cost is $2.50
to $4.00 per minute to North and Central
America and $5.00 to the rest of the world.
To make an international call to the U.S.
dial 119 to reach the international operator.
Dial 88 and then the country code, the area
and number to reach other countries. To
place a call through the operator dial 00
for local calls or 09 for international
calls. There is a new phone book but it
is often difficult to find the number you
are looking for. Information is reached
by dialing 113. Dial 10 for the local operator,
116 for the police, 115 to report a fire
and 118 for an ambulance. To call Cuba from
the U.S. or Canada dial your international
access code 011 followed by Cuba's country
code 53 , the area or city code and the
local telephone number in Cuba. You may
need the help of an operator.
In the 1990's cellular phone service was
introduced to Cuba by a state run company
called Cubacel (in a joint venture
between Mexican's TIMSA phone company and
Emtelcuba). Cubacel will activate your cell
phone. Regular monthly service charges are
about $40. There is an activation fee and
air time is around 50 cents per minute.
You should bring your own cell phone with
you since they are very expensive in Cuba.
Their office in Havana is at the José Martí
Airport Tel: (33) 2222 or (33) 1737, website:
http://www.cubacel.com/.
They also have branches at José Martí International
Airport Tel: (80) 0043, in Varadero Tel:
80-9222 and in Santiago de Cuba Tel: 8-6199.
Cubacel also rents cell phones for under
$10 per day plus a security deposit. You
may make and receive international calls
with your rented phone.
Caribbean Radio Services, a Panamanian
registered company with an office in Havana,
provides voice and paging service in Havana
and the resort of Varadero. They rent and
sell satellite and telephone equipment,
telex equipment, facsimile machines and
cellular phones.
Telegrams may be sent from post offices.
Most hotels and tourist facilities have
fax machines for your convenience.
Currently there are more than 1,000 users
of the Internet in Cuba. Businesses, organizations
and ministries may send and receive e-mail,
have websites and access the Internet services.
You may receive and send e-mail in Havana
at the Infocom office in Miramar.
They also provides webpage design and software
services. You may contact them at: Oficina
Comercial de Elecsa, Calle 22 e/ 3ra
y 5ta, Miramar, Playa, Ciudad de la Habana,
Tel: (24) 7036 Fax: (24) 3977 E-mail: infomire@teleda.get.cma.net. or
webmaster@mail. infocon.elecsaiw.
Cuba's Internet provider, Cenial
operates a cybercafe at Havana's Capitolio.
The Melía Cohiba, Havana Libre, Hotel Nacional,
Golden Tulip, and Meliá Havana all offer
full internet access and e-mail for an hourly
fee.
Here are some other Cuba Internet and E-mail
contacts:
If you don't speak Spanish you will have
problems making and receiving phone calls,
sending faxes and mailing letters. Here
are a few key Spanish phrases to help you.
- Yo quisera poner un telegrama/fax
- I would like to send a telegram/fax.
- Yo quisera hacer una llamada persona
a persona - I would like to make a
personal call.
- Yo quisiera hacer una llamada de
larga distancia - I would like to
make a long distance call.
- Yo quisera hacer una llamada de cobro
revertido - Reverse the charges.
- Por favor, comuníqueme con este número
- Please dial/connect me with this number.
- La línea está ocupada - The line
is busy.
- Aló, hola, diga - hello
- Número equivocado - wrong number
- Yo quisera hablar con..... -
I would like to speak with......
- No se encuentra. - so and so
is not in.
- Quisera dejar un recado - I would
like to leave a message.
- Marcar - to dial
- Cabina - phone booth
- Moneda - coin
- El correo, la oficina de correo
- post office
- Buzón - mail box
- Estampilla , sello - stamp
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