The Plaza de la Dignidad (Plaza of Dignity, Malecón y Calzada), west of the Maine Monument, was created at the height of the Elián González fiasco in 1999–2000 from what was a grassy knoll in front of the U.S. Interests Section. A statue of José Martí stands at the plaza’s eastern end, bearing in one arm a bronze likeness of young Elián while with the other he points an accusatory finger at the Interests Section—habaneros joke that Martí is trying to tell them, “Your visas are that way!”

The Cuban government also pumped US$2 million into constructing the Tribuna Abierta Anti-Imperialista (José Martí Anti-Imperialist Platform)—called jokingly by locals the “protestadromo”—at the west end of the plaza to accommodate the masses bussed in to taunt Uncle Sam. The concrete supports bear plaques inscribed with the names of Communist and revolutionary heroes, plus those of prominent North Americans—from Benjamin Spock to Malcolm X—at the fore of the fight for social reforms.

At the western end of the plaza is the unmarked U.S. Interests Section (formerly the U.S. Embassy), where low-profile U.S. diplomats and CIA agents serve Uncle Sam’s whims behind a veil of mirrored-glass windows. About 100 meters further west, beyond the police station that is a vision of beaux geste, is a huge, brightly painted billboard showing a fanatical Uncle Sam growling menacingly at a Cuban soldier, who is shouting, “Señores Imperialistas: ¡No les tenemos absolutamente ningún miedo!” (“Imperialists: We have absolutely no fear of you!”)