Cuba's parliament is live-tweeting a session for the first time ever — but 95 percent of the country's citizens can hardly connect to the internet

(Image credit: Sven Creutzmann/Getty Images)

published 15 July 2015

Need a new account to follow on Twitter? Why not try the Cuban Parliament? In a historic first, Cuba's National Assembly posted updates from its session on Twitter and Facebook, The Associated Press reports.

While most of the world could follow the event by live-tweets if so inclined, 95 percent of Cubans still don't have regular access to the internet, according to Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization. Granted, following the Cuban Parliament is about as exciting as say, tuning into C-SPAN, with a highlight tweet trumpeting that President Esteban Lazo successfully called the body to order:

Still, Cuba is known for its notoriously low internet penetration rates. Even the country's intranet, which hosts mostly pro-government sites, can only be accessed by about a quarter of the population. And the advent of the Cuban parliament's social media accounts does not necessarily mean full-fledged capitalism and government transparency is on the horizon. Foreign journalists were still not even allowed to attend the session, notes AP.