Billboard wars: end of an era

Several years ago, the U.S. Interests Section in Havana—which functions as the American diplomatic mission in Cuba in the absence of formal relations—installed a “billboard” along the fifth floor of the building: an electronic news ticker running pro-democracy and anti-Castro regime messages in bright crimson letters.

Fidel Castro at that time called it “a gross provocation aimed at rupturing fragile relations“. U.S. officials, on the other hand, said that they were simply trying to break through the Cuban government’s censorship. Billboards around the U.S. mission began to go up as an equal and opposite reaction.

This one, in 2004, showed a swastika, the word “Fascists” in bold red letters, and some of the infamous photographs of American troops abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison, Baghdad:

The U.S. billboard facing it has shown a variety of messages, sometimes referring to the imprisoned dissidents on the island, and at other times displaying jokes jabbing the regime—for example, an old George Burns joke saying “the people best suited to running the country are those currently driving taxis and cutting hair.”

But the Obama administration has quietly pulled the plug on the billboard on the U.S. Interests Section fifth floor, which had become a symbol of bad blood between the two countries (and an embarrassing example of their petty relationship). U.S. officials say that it has not been an effective tool for delivering information to the Cuban people, so it will not be used anymore.

Apparently, the Cuban government also removed some of their billboards around the U.S. Interests Section earlier this year, a move which administration officials viewed as a positive gesture.

Perhaps both sides can now act a little bit more like mature adults.