Summer 2005 - 16th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba

Action Alerts - Help us get the caravan aid to the people of Cuba!

August 16, 2005 - PASTORS FOR PEACE UPDATE AND ACTION ALERT: WE’RE HEADED TO WASHINGTON!

Greetings from Dallas, Texas!

Since we headed north from Hidalgo, we have visited Corpus Christi (where we had three TV interviews), San Antonio (more TV and print interviews), and Austin, where we had a wonderful hospitality from a gracious member of our network and did radio interviews for KOOP community radio.

Over this past weekend, we paid an extended visit to Crawford, Texas, where George W. Bush has his ranch. We spent a long time making the decision to go to Crawford. August is not the best month to be doing outreach to Washington, because Congress is in recess and most elected officials tend to be in their home offices or on vacation. But the national media is always present at the “summer White House” in Crawford; and we wanted to bring national attention to our cause. So we decided that we would head north toward Crawford, as one of the first stops on our way to Washington, as part of a longer tour to raise awareness about our campaign.

One week ago last Sunday, on the night that we had made the decision to go to Crawford, we learned that Cindy Sheehan had just set up her anti-war vigil there. This did not change the purpose of our visit, but it added a new component. We clearly wanted to give support to the urgent campaign to end the war in Iraq, bring the troops home, and bring peace to the Iraqi people, which at the moment Cindy and her late son Casey are symbolizing. We also wanted to draw the connections with the Cuba issues that are at the center of our campaign. As you know, we are not only working for the release of the seized computer aid, and the right to take all our aid to Cuba. We are also doing everything we can to bring attention to the Bush administration’s stepped-up efforts to crush Cuba. We are talking about the appointment of a US “administrator” (a la Paul Bremer) for Cuba’s supposed transition to a market economy that can be controlled by the US. We are sounding the alert about the always-imminent threat of a US attack or invasion of Cuba. We want to prevent Cuba from being one of Bush’s next targets. As we see it, these issues are all part of the same Bush agenda of domination and imperialism.

We were pleased to make a key contribution to the Sunday morning ecumenical service at the “Camp Casey” site where 500 crosses are set in the ground to represent the more than 1800 US soldiers killed in Iraq. Revs. Lucius Walker, Luis Barrios, and Diane Baker all took leadership in the worship service, which was attended by 100 people and covered by the national media.

We also took part in a fellowship luncheon that reminded us of Pentecost because of its diversity. Brothers and sisters from Iraq, who now live in Texas, prepared a delicious lunch of typical Iraqi foods, which was shared with families of US troops, and veterans, and clergy, and other supporters.

We want to acknowledge the wonderful work of the Crawford Peace House, which hosted our caravan on our way to Cuba, and which now has been the anchor for the ongoing campaign around Cindy Sheehan.

We were pleased and honored to have our yellow schoolbus parked over the weekend at the Crawford Peace House and Camp Casey. Many, many people at the vigil – and many journalists -- came to talk with us when they saw the bus, and asked about our campaign. We were delighted that people were so receptive and so welcoming to us. Looking at what is going on now in Crawford, we could feel the spirit of a new movement emerging. We were glad to have the chance to express our emotional, social, political and spiritual support, and also to educate people about the interconnections with other issues we care about.

Now we are in Dallas, networking with local churches and peace and justice networks, and doing media outreach. Last night we held a 6:30pm vigil in front of Dallas City Hall, along with representatives of the Dallas Peace Center, Pax Christi, and the homeless veteran population. Then we had the honor of receiving a two-hour visit from Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Rep. Johnson has visited Cuba twice, and pledged to increase her advocacy for the release of the computers for Cuba.

Our plan from here? WE ARE HEADING TO WASHINGTON! Along the way we will be visiting more cities in our network, to gather up support for our campaign. We want to meet with local Pastors for Peace committees. We also want to do a concerted push for media attention. And we REALLY need your help with fundraising.

We are planning a visit to Beaumont, Texas, where Ramon Labañino, one of the five Cubans unjustly imprisoned for defending Cuba against terrorism, remains in prison. We are celebrating the fact that the Atlanta appeals court just overturned the convictions of the Five. We visited the Beaumont prison with the bus dedicated to Ramon when our caravan was on its way south to Cuba. Now we want to visit again to draw more attention to the injustice of the long imprisonment of the Five, and the urgency of bringing the self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to justice.

Over these next few days, there is another important event to report and to celebrate. On Wednesday, fifteen new students will be joining the student body of the Latin American School of Medicine. Lucius and Ellen will be with the students to accompany them – and we will have the honor of being present for the first graduation of the Latin American School of Medicine. One of the 1500 new doctors in the graduating class is from the US – Cedric Edwards from Slidell, LA. Cedric will be headed home to prepare his application for a residency in a US hospital. We will be so proud to attend the graduation ceremony; and we will also use the time in Cuba to spread the word about our campaign to free the computers.

While that visit is going on, the Pastors for Peace team will continue on the road! Fr. Luis Barrios and Bill Hill will be traveling through Texas, working alongside our supporters from Houston, Texas; Beaumont, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia, to get the word out to the media and build support for the campaign to free the computers. We are expecting that this coming Sunday all of us (Lucius, Ellen, Bill & Luis) will be back together in Atlanta; we expect to hold a big educational event that will include the celebration of the overturning of the convictions of the Five Cubans.

THEN: WE HEAD FOR WASHINGTON! Like we did in 1996, we plan to get right in the faces of the people who make policy decisions. We will be spreading the word, not just about the need to release the computers, but about the need to end the blockade.

SO WHAT DO WE NEED YOU TO DO (AND DO AGAIN!)?

• Hold vigils! Four weeks ago, we started holding Wednesday prayer vigils on the Hidalgo/Reynosa International Bridge. The effort quickly grew; last week there were 20 vigils for the release of the computers held around the US. Today we learned that Wednesday vigils will also be held in support of Cindy Sheehan’s vigil to end the war in Iraq. We will continue organizing vigils every Wednesday. We will incorporate the issue of peace in Iraq, and bringing the US troops home, in our weekly vigils; and we are requesting that other organizers include the issue of peace with Cuba, and freeing the seized humanitarian aid, in new vigils that are being organized.
• Get signatures for the pastoral letter and the Cuban American letter. Our website, www.pastorsforpeace.org, has the link to Petitions On Line.
• Keep making calls to Commerce, Customs, State, and Congress. Jayson Ahern, Assistant Commissioner of Customs: 202/344-1620 Cuba Desk, State Department: 202/647/9273 Michael Turner, Director of Export Enforcement, Commerce Department: 202/482-1208,ext. 3
• Visit your senators’ and representative’s offices during the August recess. Show them how much you care about US/Cuba policy!
• Help us raise funds to keep this campaign on the road to Washington! Send your tax-deductible donation to IFCO/Pastors for Peace, 402 W. 145th Street, New York, NY 10031.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUING SUPPORT! This is an issue that we can win!

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August 3, 2005 - HELP US CELEBRATE LUCIUS' BIRTHDAY AND THE ANNIVERSARY OF PASTORS FOR PEACE: LET'S GET THOSE COMPUTERS TO CUBA!

August 2 was the 17th anniversary of the contra attack on the passenger ferry Mission of Peace in Nicaragua in which Rev. Lucius Walker was wounded. August 3 is the 17th anniversary of the founding of our project Pastors for Peace. It is also the 75th birthday of our fearless (and prophetic) leader Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. We remember the days when Pastors for Peace was new; it was conceived as a special ministry to the victims of US foreign policy. Look how far the project has come since its founding! Surely we have organized 50 caravans by now, to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Chiapas, and of course to Cuba.

Once an IFCO staff member asked Lucius whether our office would be open on Dr Martin Luther King Day. He responded, If Dr King were alive, he would want us to be working on his birthday -- and to be doing just the kind of work we do. We ask you to help commemorate this anniversary/birthday in just that way: Let's redouble our efforts and get those computers to Cuba! Here's how you can help:

Hold a vigil in your community to call for release of the seized aid! We are organizing vigils every Wednesday in Hidalgo on the International Bridge; let us know what public events you are planning.

Keep making phone calls to insist that the seized computer equipment be released and that all of the computer equipment in our caravan be allowed to go to Cuba:

• PLEASE CALL the Cuba desk at the State Department, 202/647-9273. (They are going through a transition in staff; talk with whoever is available.)
• PLEASE CALL Jayson Ahern, assistant commissioner for field operations at Customs, 202/344-1620.
• PLEASE KEEP CALLING Michael Turner, director of export enforcement at the Commerce Department, 202/482-1208, ext. 3.
• PLEASE KEEP CALLING CONGRESS. CALL YOUR SENATORS AS WELL AS YOUR REP. (Congressional switchboard: 202/225-3121) As you talk with sympathetic offices, let us know the names of the aides you are talking to, so we can put them on our email update list and get them more involved in our campaign! You can send their contact info to ellen bernstein at ellenb@igc.org.)

Those of you who want to support this extraordinary and unplanned organizing campaign can also send your donations to IFCO, 402 W. 145th Street, NY, NY 10031.

There is tremendous excitement about this campaign! Thanks for everything you are doing to make it successful.

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July 29 2005 - PASTORS FOR PEACE URGENT ALERT: NEW NUMBERS TO CALL!!!

We REALLY need your help today in pressuring the Bush administration for the release of the second-hand computers and computer accessories (toner! cables! modems!) that they seized from our Pastors for Peace caravan one week ago.

Our attorney received a letter this morning from Michael D. Turner, Director of the Office of Export Enforcement at the Commerce Department. His letter addresses our attorney's request for information about the seizure of aid, and about the basis for those actions, and about 'procedures for recovering computers and other goods that were detained.'

The second paragraph states

The actions taken at Hidalgo were based on current US policy regarding relations between the United States and Cuba. The President has established a clear policy regarding relations between the United States and Cuba to support a rapid, peaceful transition to a democratic, market-oriented Cuba. The most comprehensive statement of current US policy toward Cuba is contained in the May 2004 report to the President by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. [He then refers us to the State Department website, and gives us the phone number for the Cuba desk at the State Department, 202/647-9273.]

The third paragraph states

The Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of US dual-use export controls as set forth in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) contained in Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). ... In general, Cuba-bound export items subject to the EAR require BIS-issued export licenses with noted exceptions. Parties exporting goods in violation of EAR requirements may be subject to criminal and administrative sanctions.

The fourth paragraph states

Export clearance, examination of exported goods, and enforcement of US export license requirements at US ports is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection (CPB). CBP may detain goods presented for export to verify compliance with export requirements, seize goods found to be illegally exported, and take other actions. As regards matters involving your client at the Port of Hidalgo, Texas, BIS provided guidance to CBP on the relevant EAR provisions and the types of commodities which potentially qualify for EAR license exceptions. Enforcement actions at the Port of Hidalgo, Texas involving your client were taken by CBP. We refer you to Mr. Jayson P. Ahern, the CBP assistant commissioner for field operations, for information regarding those actions. Mr. Ahern's telephone number is (202) 344-1620.

We were told that the aid seizure was done at the instruction of the Commerce Department. Now Michael Turner at Commerce is punting; he's shifting responsibility to State and Customs.

SO LET'S MAKE SURE THEY HEAR FROM US RIGHT AWAY!

• PLEASE CALL the Cuba desk at the State Department, 202/647-9273 (They're going through a transition in staff; talk with whoever's available, and we'll give you a new name next week.)
• PLEASE CALL Jayson Ahern, assistant commissioner for field operations at Customs, 202/344-1620.
• PLEASE KEEP CALLING Michael Turner at the Commerce Department, 202/482-1208, ext. 3.
• PLEASE KEEP CALLING CONGRESS, YOUR SENATORS AS WELL AS YOUR REP. (Congressional switchboard: 202/225-3121)

As you talk with sympathetic offices, let us know the names of the aides you're talking to, so we can put them on our email update list and get them more involved in our campaign! You can send their contact info to ellen bernstein at ellenb@igc.org.

The caravanistas who are currently in Cuba will be returning to the US on Monday morning, at the same crossing point in Hidalgo where our goods were seized last week. We are expecting some sort of major confrontation of the travelers from OFAC and ICE. (You remember that last year they interrogated every member of the caravan, searched every piece of personal luggage, and confiscated such controversial items as a paper flag on a stick, a book of poetry, a pair of maracas... This year we expect a harder confrontation.)

We need your help to bombard Washington with calls this afternoon; and then to be on alert (and keep calling) on Monday morning! Help us keep the pressure on! Thanks for your wonderful work!

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July 26 2005 - AID DESTINED FOR CHILDREN IN CUBA SEIZED BY U.S. CUSTOMS! Call the Department of Commerce and Demand The Release of the Aid!!

On Thursday July 21st, US Customs and Border Protection officers, acting on instructions from the US Department of Commerce, seized 43 boxes of computer equipment - toner, cables, calculators, modems, keyboards, 2 printers, and a dozen computers - intended for Cuban children from the 16th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan. A group of seven caravanistas have remained on the U.S./Mexico border in Hidalgo, Texas to build an international campaign to free the computer equipment for delivery to Cuba.

Each year, the Pastors for Peace Caravan delivers hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid and good will to our neighbor nation Cuba. But this year, according to reliable sources, the order came from high up in the Bush Administration to stop Pastors for Peace from delivering the aid. In fact, most of the 11-vehicle/150 member caravan crossed the border early Friday morning after an extended search of the almost 140 tons of humanitarian aid. However, the struggle is not over yet-We Need Your Help!

"We are committed to delivering the computers donated by generous US citizens to Cuban children with special needs; and we ask for your help, immediately. At a time when Homeland Security personnel are needed for serious anti-terror surveillance, the fact that they would use 45 of their officers to stop Pastors from donating toner, cables and calculators is a wasteful misuse of public resources," said Reverend Lucius Walker, founder and director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!

• Call your congressional representative and your senators (202-225-3121); urge them to personally call Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce and insist that he let the computers go!
• Call Michael D. Turner, Director of Export Enforcement for the Department of Commerce and insist that the computers be released. 202.482.1208, Ext. 3
• Call Wendy Wysong, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, for Export Enforcement, and insist that the computers be released and allowed to continue to Cuba. 202.482.3618
• Ask your church or congregation to sign on to our Pastoral Letter in support of releasing the aid and allowing it to continue on to Cuba.
• Organize a solidarity prayer vigil on Wednesday, July 27. Our Prayer Vigil will be taking place on the Hidalg-Reynosa International Bridge, Wednesday, 4:30- 6:30pm
• Hold a Rally at the Federal Building in your town to demand the release of the computers.

For more information, visit the Pastors For Peace website, www.pastorsforpeace.org

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July 22, 2005 - Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba Crosses the Border: "A Near-Total Victory" - But the fight for computers for Cuban children continues at the Hidalgo/Reynosa border.

Pastors for Peace claimed a huge victory today as a tired but excited group of 130 US citizens crossed the US/Mexico border just before daybreak with almost all of the 140 tons of humanitarian aid en route to Cuba and collected by the Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Cuba Caravan. But their struggle to send the computers, which have been blocked by US authorities, is building momentum. AND WE NEED YOUR HELP TO GET THE COMPUTERS TO CUBA!

The caravan is composed of seven brightly painted yellow schoolbuses, two box trucks, and several smaller vehicles, all of them loaded with humanitarian aid for Cuba. Yesterday, more than 40 US Customs officers, acting on the instructions of Commerce Department officials, detained the caravan at the border and began to search the vehicles one item at a time. In a 6-hour search of the first two yellow schoolbuses, officials confiscated all of the computers and computer equipment they could find - 11 computers, three monitors, two printers, two scanners, and a variety of computer parts and accessories. Officials then threatened to tow the remaining vehicles carrying the rest of the aid. Meanwhile, members of the caravan walked aid across the border and demonstrated beside the marooned buses.

"Our caravans have delivered nearly 2500 tons of aid to Cuba since 1992, all of it without asking permission of the US government. But this year something changed: We have heard that government officials 'at the highest level' made a special determination that this year our Pastors for Peace caravan would not pass," said Rev. Walker. "We've already proved them wrong: 95% of our caravan has already crossed into Mexico and is headed toward Cuba. Now we're determined to get our computers to Cuba as well.

"When those first computers were seized, we decided not to give up any more of our precious cargo. We regrouped at a location two blocks away from the border crossing," said Rev. Walker. "There we decided that the best strategy was to send most of the caravan ahead with all the non-contested aid. So we unloaded and reloaded our vehicles, and headed back to the border. Everything but the computers passed through the Customs checkpoint between 3:00 and 6:00am. Just one bus stayed behind, with all our computers on board; and a few of us remain here in Texas to continue the fight for the computers."

"Our extraordinary group of committed and hard-working volunteers worked through the night to make sure that our caravan of urgently needed medical supplies and hurricane relief will make it to Cuba on time," said Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "More than ever we are committed to making sure that all the supplies donated by generous US citizens will get to the Cuban people."

The campaign to free the computers has received tremendous support from Capitol Hill and from members of the Pastors for Peace grassroots network nationwide, who are calling on the Commerce Department to demand the release of the Pastors for Peace computers for Cuba and an end to the inhumane blockade.

WE NEED YOU TO ADD YOUR VOICE TO THIS CAMPAIGN AND MAKE THESE CALLS:

• Call Capitol Hill and let your senators and rep know that the Pastors for Peace computers must be freed to go to Cuba. Ask them to call the Commerce Department to urge/demand that the computers be released. (Congressional switchboard: 202/225-3121).
• Call Mr. Turner, Director of Enforcement at the Commerce Department (202/482-5036), and demand that the computers be allowed to go to Cuba.
• Mobilize every network and organization you know; ask them to make these same calls, and publicize this story!

Given the new hard-line reaction to our border-crossing, we can probably expect a strong reaction from the US administration when the caravanistas and other travel challengers return to the US. The more publicity we can generate now, the more visibility we'll be able to generate when the caravanistas come home. We have been amazed and impressed by how quickly and broadly our network is mobilizing to get the computers free. Let's work together to make the most of this campaign!

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