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After Fidel Castro stepped down as the active head of Cuba’s government, his less charismatic brother, Raúl Castro, is loosening up some control of the country.

Cubans are now allowed to buy cell phones and personal computers as well as other luxury products like toasters and perfumes. These “capitalist items” were prohibited during the tight control period of Fidel Castro’s administration.

Another indication that Raúl Castro is slowly improving communication conditions in Cuba, is the recent agreement between Cuba and Venezuela to lay a new undersea fiber-optic cable to help provide high-speed Internet access to Cuban citizens by 2010.

The United States economic embargo against the island nation has forced the communist country to rely on slow and expensive satellite links for Internet connectivity. Even though it would cost less and be more efficient to lay a new cable between Cuba and the U.S., which are only 120 kilometers apart, Cuba is working with Venezuela to lay a 1,500-kilometer cable to get high-speed Internet connectivity.

The proposed cable, which is being deployed by CVG Telecom (Corporacion Venezolana de Guyana) and ETC (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba), will also provide high-speed Internet access to Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad.

Cuba has traditionally kept a tight lid on Internet access in the country. In 2003, the government cracked down on ordinary Cuban citizens, who were accessing the Internet over the government’s painfully slow phone network.

Even though Raúl Castro is not moving very fast to improve living conditions in the communist island, the fact of the matter is, that some progress is being made. It would be interesting to see how far Raúl is willing to go after his older brother dies and a new president is elected in the United States at the end of the year.