Tuesday, July 28, 2009

US turns off electronic billboard in Havana

Posted on Monday, 07.27.09
US turns off electronic billboard in Havana
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has turned off an electronic sign
at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana that had displayed
pro-democracy and human rights messages to Cuban passers-by and riled
the government for the past three years.

The State Department said Monday that the sign, a news "zipper" on the
fifth floor of the sea-front American Interest Section in the Cuban
capital, was shut down last month amid the administration's ongoing
efforts to engage with Cuba's leadership that has already seen some U.S.
sanctions eased.

"We believe that the billboard was really not effective as a means of
delivering information to the Cuban people," spokesman Ian Kelly told
reporters. He noted that since the sign was first erected in 2006, the
Cuban government had taken steps to obscure it from view and questioned
whether it was serving its original purpose.

"It was evident that the Cuban people weren't even able to read the
billboard because of some obstructions that were put in front of it," he
said. He added that President Barack Obama's decision in April to allow
U.S. telecommunications companies to do business with Cuba would do more
to boost the flow of information to the island.

The sign, which frequently displayed quotes from leading human rights
activists and pro-democracy supporters, outraged Cuban authorities who
had in 2005 erected billboards outside the mission emblazoned with
photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika
overlaid with a "Made in the U.S.A" stamp.

Kelly noted that the Cubans had dismantled "a few very negative
billboards and graffiti" around the facility and the United States
viewed their removal as "a positive gesture."

"We're trying to do all we can to promote the free flow of information
between the U.S. and Cuba," he said.

"We are looking for ways that we can do that in the best way possible.
And we just felt that these dueling, disparaging - well, disparaging is
the wrong word - but these dueling billboards, if you will, were not
serving the interests of promoting a more productive relationship,"
Kelly said.

Since he came into office, Obama has sought to reach out to Cuba by
easing travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in
Cuba. But he has said he wants to see political or economic reforms
before going further.

US turns off electronic billboard in Havana - Politics AP -
MiamiHerald.com (27 July 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1159755.html

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