Cuba's parliament opened one of its twice-annual regular sessions Wednesday with a new twist: It's been reporting the event through the day with updates on Twitter and Facebook.
President Raul Castro was attending the gathering and was expected to make his first public comments since the United States and Cuba announced they will re-establish diplomatic relations on Monday and reopen embassies in each other's respective capitals.
State-run website Cubadebate reported that the National Assembly was considering a final budget report for 2014 and the status of Cuba's economic plan over the first half of this year.
Foreign journalists were not allowed access and the meeting was not televised, although portions of the proceedings are usually broadcast on state TV later in the day.
But on its recently activated Twitter account and Facebook page, both of which apparently went live July 11, the National Assembly was publishing snippets from Wednesday's gathering. Cubadebate confirmed the two accounts' authenticity.
The early messages were not dramatic. One reported parliament president Esteban Lazo had called the body to order with homages to 19th-century independence figure Mariana Grajales, known here as the "mother of Cuba."
It's a highly unusual use of social media for a country that has largely fallen behind much of the world in terms of Internet connectivity, and is unlikely to be seen in real-time by many on the island.
Cubans are increasingly using the likes of Facebook and Twitter as authorities slowly expand connectivity options, but most islanders are able to connect only sporadically and briefly, limited by both cost and scant bandwidth.