This is hilarious, and a positive sign of how the Condi Rice regime at the State Department is shaping up: The U.S. Mission in Havana erected a five-foot high electronic sign and has been streaming messages on it, quoting the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and statements of Martin Luther King, Jr., amongst others. Castro’s reaction? To call out hundreds of thousands of people to denounce Bush as a “fascist” and a “terrorist.” From The Scotsman:

PRESIDENT Fidel Castro sent hundreds of thousands of Cuban marchers past the US mission in Havana yesterday to protest over a five-foot-high electronic display that streams news and human rights messages across its windows.

Castro accused the Bush administration of “perfidious” provocation of a new crisis between Havana and Washington.

As he climbed the podium to send off the march, the US ticker flashed “Conservatives win elections in Canada” and other headlines in bright red letters behind him and in full view of the marchers.

The headlines were followed by quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled Poland’s communist government and led to the collapse of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe.

“They have turned on the display. How brave the cockroaches are. Little Bush must have sent the order,” an angry Castro said.

Priceless.

In December, Condi Rice, while reconvening the “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba,” said the following:

By integrating U.S. Cuba policy across all agencies of the federal government and implementing recommendations in the Commission’s first report, we have empowered Cuban civil society to better organize and advocate for democratic change; we have established measures that denied millions of dollars in revenue to the dictatorship; we are breaking the regime’s information blockade on the Cuban people; and we have drawn greater attention to the dictatorship’s deplorable treatment of the Cuban people.

The Commission was reconvened to identify additional measures to help Cubans hasten the day when they will be free from oppression and to develop a concise but flexible strategic plan that will help the Cuban people move rapidly toward free and fair democratic elections. This plan will not be an imposition but rather is a promise we will keep with the Cuban people to marshal our resources and expertise, and encourage our democratic allies to be ready to support Cuba when the inevitable opportunity for genuine change arises.

Running quotes about human rights and freedom on a news-ticker might seem juvenile, but in a place where these things are not allowed to be thought, let alone articulated publicly, the power of it should not be underestimated. And Castro’s reaction makes clear that he, at least, understands that quite well.

Addendum: Interestingly, the Chief of the U.S. Mission in Cuba is one Michael Parmly. His bio indicates that he was a “Political Counselor” in Bucharest, Romania, from 1987 to 1989 (the communist dictator Ceausescu was removed and executed in December of 1989), and more recently had a significant role with the U.S. team in Afghanistan during the transition to democracy. In addition, according to the bio, “Mr. Parmly recently completed a posting on the faculty of the National War College, holding the position of Professor of National Security Studies and specializing in post-conflict situations.” All this is just to say that he doesn’t sound like someone who is in Havana to keep a seat warm.

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And here, in PDF format, is the text of a speech Parmly recently made marking the 57th anniversary of the U.N.’s adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. It’s great reading, and here’s a snippet:

The Cuban regime wouldn’t so repress its own citizens unless it was deeply afraid of them. It denies them the right stipulated in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration to “.. take part in the government of one’s country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.” Cubans, I know you fear your government, but it fears you far more. It worries that some day you will force it to respect Article 21, and have a voice in how you are governed.

No coincidence, then, that the electronic ticker is broadcasting the text of that particular document.

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