US Turns Off Ticker in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES, July 28 – The US Interests Section in Havana suspended the broadcasting of messages on its electronic sign with red lettering that it has kept on its façade for several years, reported IPS on Tuesday.

The US mission’s diplomats told the UK Guardian that the interruption is due to technical problems, but neither are there plans to start it up soon.

The ticker, considered highly offensive by the Cuban government, was a symbol of the tense relations during the Bush administration.

It led Cuba to erect huge billboards along the Malecon seawall facing the US Interests building with photos denouncing Bush and terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is free in Miami despite having been responsible for horrendous crimes including the in-flight bombing of a commercial Cuban airplane.

While the Cubans took down the billboards not long after Obama took office, nearly 200 flagpoles remained to obstruct visibility of the ticker.