Home > Cuba Erects Sign Linking U.S. and Nazis
Edito Wars and conflicts Prison USA South/Latin America
by VANESSA ARRINGTON
HAVANA - Cuba retaliated for the U.S. diplomatic mission’s Christmas display supporting Cuban dissidents by putting up a billboard Friday emblazoned with photographs of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika overlaid with a "Made in the U.S.A" stamp.
The billboard, erected overnight facing the U.S. Interest Section’s offices, stands on the Malecon, Havana’s famed coastal highway.
A diplomat at the mission noted the abuse of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison had been widely reported and discussed openly and said those responsible were being prosecuted.
"On the other hand, the Cuban government does not allow a single word of dissent in its media, jails those who dare espouse different ideas and has not allowed (anyone) to visit Cuban political prisoners since the late 1980s," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the mission’s diplomatic status.
The U.S. mission, headed by James Cason, rejected a demand this week to remove Christmas decorations that included a reference to dissidents jailed by Fidel Castro’s government.
The trimmings included a Santa Claus, candy canes and white lights wrapped around palm trees - and a sign reading "75," a reference to the 75 Cuban dissidents jailed last year.
Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon called the display "rubbish" on Wednesday and said Cason seemed "desperate to create problems." No other Cuban officials have commented.
Wayne Smith, who headed the U.S. mission here during the Carter and Reagan administrations and has long advocated restoring normal diplomatic relations with Cuba, said he thought the images of prisoner abuse in Iraq were an appropriate response by Castro’s regime.
"If I were in their shoes, this is what I would do - call attention to the fact that the United States is now guilty of torture, of massive violations of human rights," Smith said by telephone from Washington.
"Yes, I’d like to see the 75 all released, but we’re in no position now to criticize anyone," he said.
But the billboard’s Nazi reference went too far, Smith added.
A pair of Australian tourists passing by called the billboard tasteless, while a Greek traveler said it simply represented the truth.
"These are the crimes in Iraq, the torture of Iraqi people by the Americans," said Antonio Nankoudis. He then pointed to the U.S. mission, saying, "And there are the assassins."
Cubans also supported the billboard.
"This is well-placed, so the whole world understands that what’s most important is humanity," said Evelio Perez, who at first looked startled when he walked past the billboard with his family.
Smaller billboards with photographs of prisoner abuse in Iraq went up in less conspicuous places, including near a back entrance to the U.S. mission and at the neighboring Anti-Imperialist Plaza.
Cuba-U.S. relations, never good during four decades of communist rule on the island, have deteriorated during the Bush administration, which has toughened economic sanctions and publicized its plan for a democratic Cuba after Castro.
The two countries have not had formal diplomatic relations since shortly after Castro’s guerrillas seized power in 1959. The U.S. Interest Section provides only consular services and limited official contact.
Cuban officials charged last year that the imprisoned dissidents got money from U.S. officials to undermine the island’s government - a charge the activists and Washington denied. They were sentenced to up to 28 years in prison, but 14 have since been released for medical reasons.
Smith, who headed the Havana mission from 1978 to 1982, said the political Christmas decoration was a deliberate provocation, but a benign one.
"Let’s hope that the U.S. Interest Section may realize that two can play at this game and let it go at that," he said. (AP)
Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this report.
Forum posts
20 December 2004, 05:27
Even in Cuba the show some mercy and release dissidents after a while.
The United States has locked away thousands of prisoners, so called terrorists, without any
law suit or court order. The Bush Administration announced proudly: even with a court order
from a United States court we will never release this guys.
Let’s see what kind of prisoners the got: some Afghan peasants, Iraqi children (for the molestation
and pleasure of America Nazi troops), old men and women.
The USA has lost any crediblility in human rights, so Cuba does the right think, we would hope
more countries would follow. Instead of bending their backs in front of American Nazis.
20 December 2004, 18:06
Dissidents in Cuba are released only after they are killed or tortured to the point where they are a parasite on the State. In which case, they would just be killed anyway.
Your mention of credibility is laughable, albeit like a broken crutch is funny. Comparing the USA’s human rights record to that of Cuba’s is in similar bad taste to the USA=NAZI comparison being propagandized in Havana.
Go shit in your hat, you Commie-loving asshole. The result will smell better than that malignant lump you currently use for a brain.
21 December 2004, 04:47
Dissidents in America are just held without a trial for years and years and years, no lawyers, tortured and moved around by the CIA and Bushco. America is a country run by Satan as the Bible predicted there would be false prophets the churches are now preaching warmongering and greed in place of Jesus’s simple messages. Jesus knew that he had to keep it simple so that phony religions could not distort his messages, but he had no concept of the news media and the corruption in the churches so his "Golden rules" do unto others, and love one another, have morphed into hate everyone who isn’t just like you and kill anyone who won’t give up their resources.
Thank God for the commies that have been lending us all that lovely money that is helping us keep the debts some what paid. All the propaganda about Communists in the fifties and sixties did absolutely no good for this country, it got us into the shameful Vietnam war and now we are having to grovel to them for loans pretend that they are the enemy?
21 December 2004, 05:52
Good for the Cubans calling the US on its bullshit lying trip...they are right on linking the Bush administration to the Nazis since there is no difference. We couldn’t be more hypocritical than to bring up "their" human rights abuse while we are torturing and killing prisoners in Iraq. And even worse the prisoners in Iraq are just ordinary citizens trying to live their lives. After the Iraq prison scandal, the US let 400 people go home. 400 people who had done nothing to the US but were being held without charges or without any reason other than we like to torture innocent people. First we go there to free them then we free them of their freedom and their very lives.
When the rest of the world finally gets a guts full of the criminals in charge of this country, look out there will be hell to pay. And then maybe the international war crimes courts will finally nab that son of a bitch Bush and drag his ass to jail where he belongs along with Rumsfeld, Rice, Gonzales, et.al.
22 December 2004, 23:50
Hey Vanessa
The big, serious US problems regarding human and civil rights are not just ’propagandized in Havana’, but more and more well knowns all over the world. Were have you been? Wake up and don’t make ridiculous out of yourself! Cesar
23 December 2004, 14:20
Its not a Cuba vs USA thing -it’s a clash of ideologies. I’m sure there are a lot of US citizens who prioritise human need above financial profit -capitalism v socialism. Just as the Cuban exiles in Florida etc felt Cuba was shit , and wanted the materialistic ’good life’ albeit with all its failings -healthcare to name but one.
Everyone under world socialism could have a very good standard of living, there is enough for everyone -but it has such a dirty name now -totally discredited by the State communist countries and a via good PR job by the West.
Cuba, to its credit, clings to that socialist ideolgy, finding it more and more difficult due to trade embargos. However, under a capitalist system where 86% of the Worlds resources are owned by 6% of the peolple, where two thirds of the world do not even have clean drinking water and yet one persons (Bill Gates) outdoor swimming pool costs $600million, there is something fucking wrong there.