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Cuba starts propaganda drive
after frosty display by American envoy
From Jacqui Goddard in
Miami. The
Times, UK, December 24, 2004.
America and Cuba are embroiled in a diplomatic
row involving Frosty the Snowman, Santa
Claus and a set of Christmas lights.
In a transformation of Havana's main road
into a Theatre of the Absurd, motorists
were invited yesterday to drive across a
cartoon of a bald eagle, America's national
symbol, in revenge for a politically charged
Christmas display organised by Washington's
top diplomat in Cuba, James Cason.
"It will be here for some time. Everyone
will have a chance to run over this,"
said the artist, Ernesto Padrón,
who also helped to paint a two-storey caricature
of Mr Cason as Santa Claus riding a sleigh
pulled by soldiers and carrying a sack full
of bombs. The images appeared outside the
US interests section in Havana. America
has had no embassy there since severing
relations with Cuba in 1961, two years after
Fidel Castro's revolution.
The festive fracas began this month when
Mr Cason, whose forceful shows of support
for the pro-democracy movement have aggravated
Señor Castro, put a Christmas display
outside the US mission building that took
a swipe at the regime's repressiveness.
Standing defiantly among a glowing Santa
motif, a giant tinsel Frosty the Snowman,
pink and white striped candy sticks and
a sign wishing passers-by a Happy Christmas
in Spanish was a board proclaiming "75"
in lights - a reference to the 75 dissidents
jailed in Cuba last year for "subversive"
activities.
In reply, Cuban government officials had
a large billboard placed opposite the US
mission, bearing oversized photographs of
US soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq, stamped
with the words "Made in the USA"
and "fascists". A swastika was
thrown in for good measure.
Mr Cason, who arrived in Havana two years
ago, has made no secret of his meetings
with dissidents and has turned his Havana
headquarters into a resource centre for
the pro- democracy lobby, handing out thousands
of books on human rights and shortwave radios
to give Cubans an idea of the world beyond
their island's state-controlled media.
Mr Cason rejected suggestions by Ricardo
Alarcón, the parliamentary Speaker
- to whom he refers mockingly as alacrán,
meaning "scorpion" - that he is
simply spoiling for a fight.
"What's provocative is that they arrested
these 75 people and found them guilty just
because they were thinking and speaking
independently," Mr Cason said, refusing
demands to remove his display and insisting
that his seasonal exhibit was a cheery source
of light "in a generally dreary city".
Determined not to let Mr Cason have the
last say, police closed off the road outside
the US mission on Wednesday to allow artists
and students to paint the murals. Spanning
all four lanes of the road, the eagle image
is a copy of a cartoon image used on Cuban
television to mock American "imperialism".
It bears a letter "B" on its
chest, a reference to the US-imposed economic
blockade of Cuba, known as the bloqueo.
"This character represents the blockade
and will be squashed by all the cars and
people who pass by here," said Señor
Padrón.
The row did not appear to affect Señor
Castro. who walked in public yesterday for
the first time since a fall two months ago,
drawing a standing ovation from hundreds
of politicians attending a year-end meeting
of the National Assembly.
The Cuban President, 78, entered the room
on the arm of a schoolgirl, walked in front
of the gathered politicians and up some
steps, and took his place on the platform
at Havana's Convention Palace. Señor
Castro shattered his left kneecap and broke
his right arm when he stumbled during an
official engagement.
Copyright
2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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