However, a very similar national symbol in Cuba, the bell tower of Trinidad, was portrayed with such iconoclastic undertones in the artwork of a young contemporary artist, Erbo. Expression such as this only arises out of societies of oppression and inequality. It is the bald eagle, the symbol of freedom of the United States or the nation's mascot, Uncle Sam. This display was neither new nor original to the stoic ambassadors. They viewed the country of Nicaragua as a place that needed an economic push in the right direction, not necessarily the liberation of the masses which is the message within the murals.
Murals depict a hard life of toil to which the impoverished majority of Latin America can relate.
The subversive power within murals is that they liberate the eyes that gaze upon their bold colors and illustrations of vitality. A society, such as ours, that mandates individualism, but embraces conformity in the same instant, has little room for organization centered around a threat to existence or an urgency to sustain oneself or one's family. Murals recreate this urgency, and in such an image of unity, hope is discovered. For some reason, this is viewed as dangerous. To unify the people of a nation under a single revolutionary voice puts fear in the elite government of Nicaragua and probably makes the U.S. ambassadors quiver behind closed doors.