File photo - A man sits on the sidewalk next to Cuban National flags painted on the walls in downtown Havana, Jan. 22, 2015. (REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini)
HAVANA – Cuba is allowing free, public Internet service for the first time at a Havana cultural center that quietly began offering open Wi-Fi in recent weeks.
Dozens of youths flock daily to the center run by famed artist Kcho. His spokeswoman says state telecom Etecsa approved the move, a small but unprecedented loosening of Cuba's draconian Internet regulations.
The service is slow compared with what Internet users are accustomed to in most parts of the world.
But connectivity-starved islanders like Adonis Ortiz say it's a boon that lets them access Facebook, read news of the world and chat with friends.
Ortiz comes to the center as often as he can and uses the Wi-Fi to communicate with his father in the United States, whom he hasn't seen in nine years.
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