In Havana, U.S. turns off sign critical of Cuban government

[NeoConsSuck]

Source: CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It was the U.S. government's version of the ticker in New York's Times Square, blasting Havana's main seaside strip with anti-Cuba slogans in 5-foot high crimson letters. It symbolized the tit-for-tat diplomatic row between Washington and Havana.

But the ticker at the top of the U.S. interests section in Cuba has gone blank, yet another signal the past half-century of animosity between the two countries is easing.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the ticker was turned off in June because it was not considered "effective" as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people.

<snip>
It also streamed news and political messages that blamed Cuba's everyday problems on the communist regime led by Fidel Castro and the island's socialist economy. The island's transportation woes, for example, were the topics of jabs such as, "Some go around in Mercedes, some in (Russian-built) Ladas, but the system forces almost everyone to hitch rides."



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/27/us.cuba.propaganda.ticker/index.html

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Note to US State Dept: It's hard to call yourself the greatest country in the world when a great many of your citizens are without health care. When I checked last, every citizen of Cuba had access to free health care. Greatest my ass. You took the signs down because no one believed your bullshit.

[Earth_First]

1. Excellent.

I still love the response by the Cuban government immediately following the installation of this ticker...

They installed 30 meter high flags to block it.

[Vidar]

2. A little step, but a good one.

[iandhr]

3. who said

that progress was not slow and painful