Amazon is laying the groundwork for shipments to Cuba

The site began showing a button for shipping to the country, though it did not yet work

Even with relations between the United States and Cuba thawing a bit recently, it has not resulted in anything significant yet. The trade embargo is still in place, at least for now, but It seems like one significant player is expecting, or at least hoping, that Congress will get off its butt and make that happen (they won't).

Amazon has begun laying the groundwork for eventually being able to ship packaged to Cuba, according to a report out from Reuters.

Reuters reporters, stationed in Havana, began seeing a "ship to Cuba" button appearing on Amazon on Monday. This was likely a mistake, as the button does not yet work. In fact, when it was pushed, an error message poped up instead.

"Due to export controls and economic sanctions laws and regulations, we are unable to process transactions from your current location," the message said.

Reuters notes that Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, actually has strong family ties to Cuba, as his adoptive father, Miguel Bezos, was born in the country and immigrated to the United States at the age of 15. 

Amazon is not the first to use the ake advantage of the easing relations between the two countries; in early February Netflix announced that it has expanded to Cuba, offering it service for $7.99 to those in the country who have access to Internet connections and access to international payment methods.

Cuban citizens were given access to "a curated selection of popular movies and TV shows," including Netflix original series like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Marco Polo, as well as kids programming like All Hail King Julien, The Adventures of Puss in Boots and original documentaries including Virunga and The Square.

Amazon will likely run into the same issue that I pointed out when Netflix made this move: Internet usage in Cuba is very low at the moment.

The country has a population of 11.3 million people; of those, only around 25%, or around 2.8 million, had Internet access in 2012, according to data from the World Bank. That number has presumably grown since, but it is unlikely to have moved all that much.

That may be misleading, though, as it only counts those who use government approved Internet, and not those who have found other ways to get access. Even so, access to fast Internet in the country is said to be particularly hard to come by.

Amazon, like Netflix, would likely be playing the long game, in the hopes that an easing of the trade embargo would bring innovation, and cheaper computers, potentially giving Cuban citizens easier access.

VatorNews has reached out to Amazon for confirmation. We will update this story if we learn more. 

(Image source: phx.corporate-ir.net)