The US in Cuba

Even though friendly relations between the US and Cuba are practically nonexistant, the US does have a ¨US interest section¨ building in Havana that basically serves as an embassy. We had to go there last week to register with them, and boy was it creepy. While cubans don´t mind people from the US (as far as I can tell), they DON´T like the US government. In fact, they are kindof paranoid about a US invasion, so the US building is one of the most heavily guarded buildings, by cuban police and military. They surround the area and only allow you to enter from a certain direction. We couldn´t figure out these directions, so we had to walk back and forth for a while. Then, they have you wait for a while, I´m not sure why, perhaps they do a background check. Once you´re inside they kindof encourage you to come back. THis visit, they offered us the use of their computer if we returned the next day. But we are encouraged by the program not to return, becuase once some students 3went back and were subjeted to meetings with cuban dissedents (anti castro cubans, like the ones in miami). Also, our neighbors here will probably start to get suspicious if we visit the US building regularly .
Though the cuban opinion of the US and their interest section seems a little overly paranoid, they do have a reason to worry. Every time a new US ¨ambassador¨ to Cuba is elected or appointed (i don´t know how that works), they do something bold to show they´ll have a tough stance against Cuba and Castro. THe newest guy put up a gigantic news ticker, like the ones in Times Square, on top of the US building that flashed some incendiary messages. In response, the cuban government put up 138 flags in front of the building, one for every Cuban who died fighting for the country (I think against the US). Because of the constant breeze caming from the sea, the flags always block the view of the building from the rest of Havana. It´s pretty funny.