Power Struggle As Us Lights Go Out in Havana Mission

An ongoing squabble between the Cuban government and American diplomats has escalated into a full-scale power struggle after Fidel Castro was accused of cutting off electricity to the US mission in Havana.

Officials in Washington accused the Cuban president of pulling the plug as part of a long-running campaign of harassment and intimidation of US staff. They cite other tactics including allegedly setting off car alarms outside diplomats' houses in the middle of the night and slowing the mission's water supply to a trickle.

"Bullying tactics of the Castro regime aren't going to work," said Sean McCormack, a state department spokesman.

But Cuba denied deliberately cutting off power to the US mission, saying there were problems in the electrical grid feeding the building and that the US authorities "lie shamelessly".

"We categorically deny that there have been premeditated cuts in the electrical energy to disrupt the functioning of the interests section," the Communist party daily Granma said in a frontpage editorial. American authorities "lie shamelessly".

Tensions between the two countries heightened in January when Michael Parmly, the new chief of the US mission, unveiled a sign displaying messages critical of Castro's government. And last month, mission staff said they were forced to scrap a telephone number for visa applications after the system was swamped by half a million "suspicious" calls in one day. Cuban government agents were also accused of being behind an attempt to poison a US diplomat's dog in December.