U.S. to allow Americans to send cell phones to Cuba

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush announced an easing of restrictions on Wednesday to allow Americans to send cell phones to their families in Cuba, in what he portrayed as a test of the Communist country's economic reforms.

Since Cuban President Raul Castro took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro in February, he has undertaken several economic changes, such as allowing Cubans to buy computers, DVD players and mobile phones. But few people can afford them.

It was unclear how Bush's plan might work. Potential obstacles include whether Cuba will allow the phones in, if they will work there, and how the expensive bills will be paid.

"If Raul is serious about his so-called reforms, he will allow these phones to reach the Cuban people," Bush said at a White House ceremony on Cuba in which he scathingly described the Cuban reforms as a 'cruel joke' on the country's people.

"Through these measures the United States is reaching out to the Cuban people, yet we know that life will not fundamentally change for Cubans until their form of government changes," Bush said.

At odds with Havana since soon after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, Washington has maintained a decades-long economic embargo against Cuba and the Bush administration has firmly upheld it, despite calls both in the United States and abroad to loosen it. Bush has been dismissive of prospects for political change under Raul Castro.

White House officials stressed that the change on mobile telephones was merely an extension to the U.S. existing policy that permits gift parcels to be sent to families in Cuba rather than a crack in the embargo.

Dan Fisk, National Security Council senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, said phones sold in Cuba can cost $120 plus another $120 to activate them, though he did not say how much the service cost. The average monthly wage in Cuba is less than $20.