Cuba Blocks U.S. Mission’s Sign With Its Own Message

Black flags bearing a single white star were raised Monday outside the U.S. mission here in memory of those who Cuba says have been killed in violence against the island nation, blocking an electronic sign on the building that has enraged government officials.

President Fidel Castro attended but did not address the hundreds of people at the flag-raising ceremony, which appeared aimed at underscoring Havana’s contention that the United States organized and financed -- or at least tolerated -- many attacks against Cuba over the years. The scores of flags also blocked the electronic sign erected recently by the U.S. on the facade of its diplomatic offices, streaming news and human rights messages.

A large group of young people carried huge signs made from photographs of some of the 3,000 Cubans who the government says have been killed in acts of sabotage during Castro’s 47 years in power.

The government also surrounded the U.S. mission with several billboards, including one with a mock ad for a horror film, “The Murderer,” featuring likenesses of President Bush and militant anti-Castro exile Luis Posada Carriles with bloody vampire teeth.