Obama's Appease-A-Dictator

GoWulfpack · Jul 27, 2009

HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States has turned off a news ticker at its diplomatic mission in Havana that had long irritated the Cuban government, in another sign of efforts to improve relations with Havana, western diplomats said.

The ticker, which streamed news, political statements and messages blaming Cuba's problems on the country's communist system and socialist economy, had infuriated former President Fidel Castro when it was turned on in January 2006 at a moment of high political tension with Washington. President Raul Castro took over from ailing elder brother Fidel last year.

Throughout most of July, the five-foot-high (1.5-meter high) news streamer which ran across 25 windows on the fifth floor of the U.S. Interests Section, has been turned off.

Western diplomats in Havana, who asked not to be identified, said there were no plans for its crimson letters to be switched on again any time soon.

Neither U.S. diplomats nor Cuban officials were immediately available for comment. U.S. diplomats had told visitors there were "technical difficulties" with the electronic messenger, which in June appeared to sputter at times.

The turn-off of the news ticker comes amid moves by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to ease nearly half a century of enmity between the United States and Cuba following Fidel Castro's 1959 Revolution.

Obama has already rolled back a number of hard-line policies against Cuba, including the news ticker installed by his predecessor George W. Bush.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/poli...Type=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

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