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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| US strikes back in Christmas symbols war with Cuba |
| 2004-12-25 |
| The US mission in Cuba stepped up its Christmas symbols battle with the Cuban government by sending holiday postcards with the number 75 representing dissidents held prisoner by the communist-led island. The card is decorated with a shackled peace dove behind bars and a padlock with the number 75 for the dissidents who were rounded up in a government crackdown on the opposition last year. Fourteen dissidents have been freed since then for health reasons. "Peace on earth, goodwill toward all," says the postcard sent to foreign diplomats and journalists. It is signed by the chief of the US special interests section, James Cason, and his wife Carmen. The Christmas conflict began last week when the US mission put up Christmas lights that had a neon "75" as the centerpiece surrounded by traditional Christmas trees. Cuba retaliated by mounting pictures of US soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison onto billboards outside the US mission on the Malecon avenue along Havana's sea front. they also put up Nazi swastikas and the words "Fascists Made In USA." Cason rejected Cuban government calls for the removal of the decorations. In addition to the billboards, the Cuban government has held an anti-Iraq war concert and broadcast a television show criticizing Cason's "provocations." Cuban artists added their talent to the symbols war by painting two anti-US murals. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |