Cellphone Internet access bringing changes fast to Cuba

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 photo, a man chats using his cellphone next to a woman reading a book while sitting on the seawall in Havana, Cuba. In the 2 1/2 months since Cuba allowed its citizens internet access via cellphones, fast-moving changes are subtle but palpable as Cubans challenge government officials online, post photos of filthy school bathrooms and drag what was once of the world’s least-connected countries into the digital age. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

HAVANA: After a tornado slammed Havana in late January, Mijail Ramirez complained on Twitter that authorities were threatening to evict him from his damaged home. A week later he said the government had changed its mind and would help him rebuild the house. 

Jorge Luis Leon used the official Twitter account of a Cuban vice president to request that hospital waiting rooms have seating for family members, while a group of young people launched Sube, a ride-hailing app for the aging American sedans that ply the streets of Havana.