Cubans paint US [new] Christmas message

[RPankn]

Cuban drivers can now drive their cars straight over the US eagle

Cuban cartoonists and art students have painted giant caricatures outside the US mission in Havana in the latest blow in a bizarre tit-for-tat spat.

A two-storey high cartoon depicted the top US diplomat in Cuba, James Cason, as a huge Father Christmas - whose sack contains bombs, not presents.

The dispute began when the US alluded to jailed Cuban dissidents in Christmas decorations put up outside the mission.

The rival neighbours have recently stepped up their war of words.


The groups of students and cartoonists added fresh graphics to an "anti-imperialist" display that has grown outside the US mission on Havana's sea front.

In addition to the bomb-bearing Father Christmas, the artists painted a large, aggressive-looking eagle wearing a "B" on its chest on the road in front of the mission.

Ernesto Padron, a well-known cartoonist working on the painting, said the "B" represented the US trade blockade on Cuba.

The bird "will be squashed by all the cars and people who pass by here," he told AP news agency.


news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4119759.stm

[RPankn]

Posted on Wed, Dec. 22, 2004

Cubans Put Up 'Anti-Imperialist' Images

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

Associated Press


HAVANA - Cuban art students and cartoonists painted an American eagle cartoon Wednesday on the asphalt of Havana's coastal highway so cars can drive over it as they pass the U.S. diplomatic mission, the latest salvo in a spat over pro-dissident Christmas decorations hung by the Americans.

Police closed off two blocks of the highway as the students drew the colorful cartoon of an aggressive-looking eagle with an enormous "B" on its chest - referring to the U.S. "bloqueo," or trade sanctions. The government has used the figure in a televised campaign to criticize four decades of sanctions.

"This character represents the blockade and will be squashed by all the cars and people who pass by here," said Ernesto Padron, a well-known cartoonist working on the painting.

Dozens of other artists worked on billboards outside the mission. They said they planned to paint a caricature of James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, as well as images protesting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

U.S. officials declined to comment Wednesday on the painting.

The row began last week when Cason ignored orders by the Cuban government to remove Christmas decorations including a sign reading "75" - a reference to 75 Cuban dissidents arrested in a crackdown last year.

The Cuban government then erected a billboard outside the U.S. mission emblazoned with photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and the word "fascists" overlaid with a "Made in the U.S.A" stamp.

"We reject the U.S. operations against Cuba and against Iraq," Lisandra Ramirez, 18, said as she painted.

Earlier in the week, thousands of university students rallied outside the U.S. Interests Section to protest the Christmas display.

U.S.-Cuba relations, never good during four decades of communist rule on the island, have deteriorated during President Bush's administration, which has toughened economic sanctions and publicized its plan for a democratic Cuba after Fidel Castro.

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. The dissidents were sentenced to up to 28 years in prison, but 14 have since been released for medical reasons.


www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10477412.htm

[Moses]

I thought it was a huge chicken cheerleader and that the "B" was for "Bush" , and it depicted Bush as a huge Chickenhawk cheerleader for war.