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Havana's 148 Flags Prove Mightier Than the Billboard (Washington ComPost cheers Castro)
Washington Post ^ | 5/13/06 | Manuel Roig-Franzia

Posted on 05/14/2006 10:52:10 AM PDT by wagglebee

HAVANA -- At night, when all Havana seems to be out for an evening stroll, the austere office building that serves as an outpost of U.S. diplomats turns into a billboard.

Letters scroll slowly across the facade, casting a bright red glow. Clumps of restless teenagers plunk their bottles of Havana Club rum on the sidewalk and stare up, their mouths agape. Couples unlace hands and gawk.

Some nights they read the insights of comedian George Burns translated into Spanish: "How sad that all the people who would know how to run this country are driving taxis or cutting hair." Other times, questions are posed: "In a free country you don't need permission to leave the country. Is Cuba a free country?"

On a typical evening, the billboard gets only a small audience -- the few who venture within a block or two of its glowing letters. More people might have seen the messages, but President Fidel Castro countered the U.S. move with one of his own.

In the latest installment of a long-running propaganda war, Castro's government planted a field of flags on tall poles -- 148 in all -- in front of the U.S. building, which holds the offices of the U.S. Interests Section, a diplomatic post one notch below an embassy. The flags block the view of the billboard from its intended audience: the heavy traffic along a seaside highway in central Havana. The flags loom over an outdoor amphitheater already freighted with symbolism: Its name is Anti-Imperialism Park.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Cuba; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: communism; communist; daskapital; fidelcastro; mediabias; propaganda
Trumping the United States by obscuring its billboard delighted some neighbors.

"That Fidel, he's smart -- very smart," said Luis Garcia, a retiree who lives nearby.

My guess would be that the media has a list of people who are more than happy to say how wonderful they think Castro is.

1 posted on 05/14/2006 10:52:13 AM PDT by wagglebee
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To: wagglebee

Yep, we can start with Jimmah Carter, Dan Blather and go from there.


2 posted on 05/14/2006 10:55:11 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: wagglebee

I don't think the article was "cheering Castro."

Read the whole thing.


3 posted on 05/14/2006 11:08:36 AM PDT by CobaltBlue (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
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To: wagglebee
the U.S. Interests Section, a diplomatic post one notch below an embassy.

Wrong. A US interest section is part of another embassy of a nation friendly to us in countries where we have no diplomatic relations. Our Havana US operations are at the Swiss embassy. IIRC no direct US personnel are there but it would be the host country's embassy people, contracted by the US.

4 posted on 05/14/2006 11:10:30 AM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult (The man who said "there's no such thing as a stupid question" has never talked to Helen Thomas.)
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To: CobaltBlue

Just the tone of the title indicates that Castro is "mightier" than the United States.


5 posted on 05/14/2006 11:11:23 AM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult

I believe you're right.


6 posted on 05/14/2006 11:12:09 AM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: CobaltBlue

I agree. Hardly "cheering" Castro.


7 posted on 05/14/2006 11:16:17 AM PDT by Sir_Humphrey (The mighty oak is just a nut who held it's ground)
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To: wagglebee

I disagree -- the US embassy's electronic billboard bugs Castro but he can't get rid of it entirely.

And information is getting through, like Castro's wealth.


8 posted on 05/14/2006 11:18:05 AM PDT by CobaltBlue (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
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To: wagglebee

The article sounded as though the US billboard was having a positive effect, but that it's impossible for the terrorized citizens of Cuba to admit or comment upon that fact.


9 posted on 05/14/2006 11:30:29 AM PDT by Fairview
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To: wagglebee
United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with lines such as "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country."

Well, with qualifications.

10 posted on 05/14/2006 11:30:40 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: wagglebee

Forbes magazine, the billboard reported, had just named Fidel Castro the world's seventh-wealthiest head of state, with a fortune estimated at $900 million.

&&&
And who says crime doesn't pay?


11 posted on 05/14/2006 11:32:52 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Never trust Democrats with national security.)
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To: wagglebee

What we need is direct telepathic broadcasts - but the technology is not to fall into civilian hands or one wouldn't be able to get rid of the ads.


12 posted on 05/14/2006 11:33:37 AM PDT by GSlob
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To: wagglebee
If the US is so bad, why do they have to hide the messages with their flags? If Cuba is free why can't everyone read the messages at their leisure?

The answer to both questions is the US isn't bad and the Cubans are not free!

What dumb asses the WAPO has running it! Lefties are blind to what occurs in communist countries, they are the stupidest people on the face of the earth, refusing to see or hear what is transpiring or what has taken place in communist countries!

13 posted on 05/14/2006 12:23:18 PM PDT by calex59 (No country can survive multiculturalism. Dual cultures don't mix, history has taught us that!)
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To: wagglebee
Fidel Castro the world's seventh-wealthiest head of state, with a fortune estimated at $900 million.
14 posted on 05/14/2006 12:37:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: martin_fierro
They have a right to return.

Heck . . . I say we put them on buses and give them a free ride back to Tijuana, Jalisco and Ciudad Juaraez.
15 posted on 05/14/2006 12:39:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: Bigg Red

Forbes magazine, the billboard reported, had just named Fidel Castro the world's seventh-wealthiest head of state, with a fortune estimated at $900 million.

This is the key, let this tidbit spread, and it will. The great Castro, just another swindling thug, starving his people.


16 posted on 05/14/2006 1:19:07 PM PDT by sgtyork (Prove to us that you can enforce the borders first.)
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To: wagglebee
This WaPo article isn't cheering Castro at all. Sure, they threw in a couple of pro-Castro comments to present "the other side" but all in all it's very pro-America and pro-freedom. Just the fact that they quoted the pro-Castro folks by name and the anti-Castro folks couldn't be named says it all.

The press usually gets it wrong, but when they do decent stuff, we need to cheer them on. Way to go, WaPo for getting the message out!

17 posted on 05/14/2006 1:44:52 PM PDT by inkling
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To: sgtyork
Forbes magazine, the billboard reported, had just named Fidel Castro the world's seventh-wealthiest head of state, with a fortune estimated at $900 million.

Interesting...all dressed up but he has no place to go.....hah!

18 posted on 05/14/2006 4:32:04 PM PDT by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: sgtyork

This is the key, let this tidbit spread, and it will.

**
I certainly hope it will.
Interesting, though, that this is the first time I had seen that fact. I guess all of the Castro lovers in the MSM are less than enthusiatic about spreading that story.


19 posted on 05/14/2006 5:56:37 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Never trust Democrats with national security.)
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