However, many locals still don't have access to the web or can't afford it.

That's why not-for-profit Miami startup Apretaste set up a system to allow Cubans to browse the web via email, which more people have access to. Only about 400,000 Cubans can freely browse the web, according to Apretaste, but 2.6 million have access to email.

The service is simple. Users can get the Wikipedia entry for Cuba, for example, by sending an email to apretaste@apretaste.com with the subject line "Wikipedia Cuba." Apretaste will download the Wikipedia page in Spanish, compress it to minimize the size of the resulting HTML file, and email it to back to the user.

In addition to searching Wikipedia, Apretaste also runs a Craigslist-like service that connects buyers and sellers in Cuba.