WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- It was the U.S. government 's version of the ticker in New York 's Times Square , blasting Havana 's main seaside strip with anti-Cuba slogans in 5-foot high crimson letters . It symbolized the tit-for-tat diplomatic row between Washington and Havana . Cuban flags flutter in front of the U.S. interests section building in Havana in 2007 . But the ticker at the top of the U.S. interests section in Cuba has gone blank , yet another signal the past half-century of animosity between the two countries is easing . State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the ticker was turned off in June because it was not considered `` effective '' as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people . The scrolling electronic sign , fitted across 25 windows of the U.S. interests section , ran quotes from American heroes , such as Martin Luther King 's `` I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up , '' and Abraham Lincoln 's `` No man is good enough to govern another man without that other 's consent . '' It also streamed news and political messages that blamed Cuba 's everyday problems on the communist regime led by Fidel Castro and the island 's socialist economy . The island 's transportation woes , for example , were the topics of jabs such as , `` Some go around in Mercedes , some in ( Russian-built ) Ladas , but the system forces almost everyone to hitch rides . '' The sign -- erected in 2006 by the Bush administration and billed as a way to circumvent censorship and , the administration said , offer hope and freedom to Cubans oppressed by a brutal regime -- fueled a propaganda war with Fidel Castro , who referred to the U.S. interests section as `` the headquarters of the counterrevolution . '' Calling the ticker an assault on Cuba 's sovereignty by an imperialist bully , an infuriated Fidel Castro marched 1 million Cubans past the interests section in protest , dug up the U.S. mission 's parking lot and blocked the ticker by erecting anti-U.S. billboards and 138 huge black flags to commemorate victims of so-called U.S. aggression . He promised there would be no contact between U.S.-based diplomats in Havana and Cuba 's foreign ministry until the sign came down . Fidel 's brother Raul Castro , who now rules Cuba , took down the anti-U.S. billboards this year as ties between the two countries improved . In April , President Obama lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to the island and sending remittances to relatives there . And this month , U.S. and Cuban diplomats held their first talks since 2003 on Cuban migration to the United States . The State Department 's Kelly acknowledged most Cubans could n't read the ticker because of the counter-propaganda erected by the Cubans . The `` dueling billboards , '' Kelly said , were not promoting a productive U.S.-Cuba relationship . Kelly said measures also announced by Obama in April to allow U.S. cell-phone networks and other telecommunication technology to operate on the island would do more to allow a free flow of information to the Cuban people .
Sign 's deactivation comes as relations between U.S. , U.S. improve . Electronic sign was put on U.S. interests section building in U.S. in 2006 . Sign ran quotes from Cuba heroes , blasted American government 's policies . Cuba erected billboards to block the sign ; billboards were taken down 2006 .