By Lemay Padrón Oliveros *
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
La Paz (PL) – When Evo Morales spoke of the possibility of Bolivia having its own space satellite, some thought he was joking.
Five years later, however, the first Bolivian satellite, Túpac Katari (TKSAT-1), is a reality and has enabled the South American country to enjoy true sovereignty over telecommunications.
Until then, Bolivia had been contracting foreign satellites for 35 years to use these facilities, with the consequent disbursement in dollars and the effect on the national economy.
Today, in addition to that function, TKSAT-1 has generated revenues of $102.2 million in its five years of operations, according to Iván Zambrana, manager of the Bolivian Space Agency (ABE).
Zambrana explained that the satellite’s annual turnover went from seven million dollars in its first year in orbit to 25 million dollars annually from 2016.
If we didn’t have a satellite of our own, that money would have gone outside,” said the director.
In addition, Zambrana recalled that the device managed to reverse the situation of ‘exclusion and inequality’ in access to telecommunications in the country, especially in rural areas, where more than three million Bolivians live.
This does not mean that we have now solved all the problems, but we have made significant progress in erasing this inequality that existed in the Bolivian population, he said.
According to the manager, there are only 50 countries in the world that operate telecommunications satellites, and four are Latin American: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela.
Zambrana explained that in the first quarter of next year Bolivia will launch the service ‘Banda Ancha en tu Casa’ [Broadband in Your Home], which will offer internet service at low cost, with 30 percent of free space that still has the satellite Túpac Katari.
He also added that a service will be enabled that will allow people to visit the Amachuma earth station free of charge on the first Friday of each month.
The device, owned by the Plurinational State, was placed in orbit on December 20, 2013, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China.
The vice-minister of telecommunications, Gustavo Pozo, recalled that when Evo had this idea he encountered much resistance, especially because of the high cost of the device, but the president was always clear that the benefits were much greater than the costs.
Currently, TKSAT-1 guarantees all Bolivians 30 television channels, six of them in high definition, and 26 radio stations totally free anywhere in the country.
In addition to its basic services, Túpac Katari has made it possible to transmit information via satellite to all corners of the Bolivian population, the reduction of the tariffs of the communications company Entel in calls, and that state satellite television has a price 80 percent cheaper than the others.
Among its fundamental benefits was the coverage of the Odesur Sports Games, which took place this year in Cochabamba (center), and were broadcast live and in high definition to the 14 participating countries.
It is located in a geostationary orbit, on the plane of the Earth’s Equator, 87.2 degrees west longitude and 36 thousand kilometers above the Earth’s surface, approximately on the Galapagos Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.
The satellite is controlled from the Amachuma Earth Station in the city of El Alto, located 4,000 meters above sea level, about 20 kilometers from La Paz, and from the La Guardia Earth Station in the department of Santa Cruz (east).
In total, the Agency has 65 workers, all Bolivians, and is in charge of more than 2,500 telecenters, more than 600 new radio bases, an implemented telehealth network and an educational television, all thanks to the implementation of TKSAT-1.
ABE’s main clients are the state-owned Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Entel) and the private telephone companies Viva and Tigo, as well as other institutions such as Customs and the General Personal Identification Service of Bolivia.
Initially, ABE planned to work on another project for a second satellite, Bartolina Sisa, to support prospecting and natural resource management tasks, monitor agricultural projects and strengthen the search for water resources, but it has been deferred by a budget issue.
Túpac Katari and his wife Bartolina Sisa were indigenous leaders who were dismembered in retaliation for their uprisings against the Spanish colony in the 18th century.
Impossible for his executioners to imagine that three centuries later, the Aymara warlord would travel in the form of a satellite to give his compatriots sovereignty over telecommunications.
* Latin Press Correspondent in Bolivia.
The protest was seconded by thousands of Palestinian prisoners in various detention centres inside and outside the occupied territories.
Published: Wednesday 23 January 2019 | 09:09:46 pm.
Updated: Wednesday 23 January 2019 | 10:50:35 pm.
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Ramallah, January 23.- More than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners held in the Israeli high security prison of Ofer went on an indefinite hunger strike in protest against the aggressions and mistreatment of military police, aided by dogs of prey, during violent searches carried out in their cells.
The protest was seconded by thousands of other Palestinian prisoners in various detention centers inside and outside the occupied territories, Middle East Monitor reported.
Ofer prison is the only Israeli prison built in Palestinian territory, located near the town of Beitunia, from which it is separated by an imposing concrete wall, and only three kilometers from Ramallah, in the West Bank.
The prison is governed by its own law and the hunger strike is considered a transgression of the rules, which carries severe punishments, sources of the Resistance recalled.
Ofer prison houses about 1,200 Palestinian prisoners, including a large number of young people and minors.
According to the Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer, there are about 5,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 230 children and 54 women. Of that number, 481 were held without trial under the pretext of an illegal practice known as “administrative detention”.
In all Israeli prisons tensions increased, as the prisoners solidarized with Ofer, and suspended their daily activities, even refusing to eat.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Association, some 150 prisoners were injured when special forces of the Israeli military police stormed Ofer prison on Monday morning.
According to this organization, six prisoners suffered bone fractures, 40 were injured in the head and had to receive stitches, and several were injured as a result of the use of rubber projectiles and tear gas.
Cuba condemns aggressions
Meanwhile, at the United Nations, during the Security Council’s quarterly open debate, the Cuban representative, Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, reiterated her strong rejection of Israel’s use of disproportionate and indiscriminate force against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
It also condemned the unilateral actions of the United States, such as the withdrawal of financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East, the repeated obstruction of that country so that the Security Council does not condemn the escalation of violence, the tragic events that have occurred in the Gaza Strip since 30 March 2018, and the establishment of its diplomatic representation in the city of Jerusalem, which only contribute to the worsening of the situation.
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