Cuban leader Fidel Castro has condemned the United States for using its Havana mission to broadcast propaganda and has called for a mass rally on Tuesday in protest.
In a three-hour appearance on state television yesterday, the Cuban president said that after abuse scandals at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the United States has no moral authority on human rights.
The United States has erected large electronic signs on its mission building to broadcast excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"They should put those signs inside, not outside," Castro said.
The signs on the oceanfront building are the latest salvo in an billboard war between the two countries. More than a year ago, Cuba erected signs outside the mission with photographs of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika with a "Made in the USA" stamp.
Castro said the new US signs were provocative and claimed their purpose was to break off the limited contact between the two governments, which have been without diplomatic relations for 45 years.