Summer 2007 - 18th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba

Press releases

 

07.28.07: Pastors for Peace Returns Victorious from Cuba Travel Challenge

Attended Graduation of US Medical Students and Delivered 90 Tons of Aid

"Our faith calls us to resist any law preventing us from our biblical mandate to love our neighbor."

More than 100 exhilarated members of Pastors for Peace returned to the US after spending eight days in Cuba, where they delivered 90 tons of humanitarian aid and attended the graduation of eight US students who completed medical school on full scholarship at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.

According to Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, the group re-entered the US via Hidalgo,Texas on Saturday morning July 28, not knowing if they would face an increased level of harassment at the border. In previous years, federal agents have tried to intimidate the Caravan with threats of prosecution and seizure of humanitarian aid.

"Border agents spent a considerable amount of time searching luggage and questioning Caravan members." said Walker. "We were able to regain possession of the aid that was detained on our way into Mexico. However, we have not forgotten the situation in Maine where border officials seem to have an axe to grind over the issue of Cuba. Why else would they detain stethoscopes, a hospital breast milk pump and other medical aid bound for Cuba?"

The highlight of the Caravan's eight day stay in Cuba, was the graduation of the first class of US medical students at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana. IFCO is the administrator of the scholarship program for US students. For more information about the program call the contacts listed above and see our website: www.ifconews.org.

"The medical school graduation was a tremendously powerful experience. These young doctors are remarkable" said Rev. Thomas Smith of Pittsburgh. "They are committed to returning to medically underserved communities in the US where they are needed most. They will care for those who desperately need them with solid medical training and a deep sense of compassion," said Rev. Smith, who serves as board president of IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

More than 40 percent of the 18th Friendshipment Caravan was comprised of young people. During their stay in Cuba, they had many opportunities to meet with Cuban youth. The entire Caravan visited schools, senior centers and hospitals where they learned about the Cuban health care system.

Rev. Diane Baker of Houston noted "Our caravans are like water dropping onto a rock. The rock may seem impenetrable, but we just keep on keeping on -- because the water always wins."

Last year, more than 100 participants of the Pastors for Peace caravan received letters from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), threatening them with fines for traveling to Cuba. "We don't know what will await us this time," said IFCO board member Rev. Luis Barrios, "but we refuse to be intimidated from fulfilling our mission of humanitarian aid and fellowship."

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency which has been working for social justice since 1967.

Photos and more information are available at www.pastorsforpeace.org. For the most up-to-date news about the Caravan go to our blog at: www.18thcubacaravan.blogspot.com

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07.17.07: PASTORS FOR PEACE CUBA CARAVAN DETAINED BY HOMELAND SECURITY:
OFFICERS CURRENTLY SEARCHING VEHICLES, 'DETAINING' COMPUTERS

126 U.S. Citizens and International Activists Challenging Immoral U.S. Blockade of Cuba

The 18th Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba approached the Pharr International Bridge at the Texas/Mexico border this morning at 6:30am. They found that the International Bridge was blocked off by local police. The caravan was diverted into the US Customs lot, where Customs and Border Patrol officers proceeded to X-ray and search the vehicles. Nearly 50 officers spent nearly two hours unloading and reloading crutches, wheelchairs, commodes, and medical supplies from the vehicles. They located and 'detained' 12 computers from the caravan.

"This is a battle of David and Goliath – and Goliath knows that he's losing," said Rev Luis Barrios, member of the IFCO/Pastors for Peace board of directors. "What they are taking from us today is purely symbolic. They are trying to show us that they are in charge. But we know that we are the ones in charge, and that the people's power will prevail."

The Pastors for Peace caravan, 12 brightly painted vehicles carrying 126 activists and 90 tons of aid, plans to cross into Mexico later today on its way to Cuba. The caravan is a direct nonviolent challenge of the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba, which prevents the Cuban people from accessing much-needed supplies. The caravan also challenges the travel blockade, which seeks to prevent U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba.

Two years ago, US government officials spent a whole day seizing computer aid - CPUs, modems, cables, and toner cartridges - from the 16th IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba. IFCO/Pastors for Peace struggled for nearly a year to finally get that aid released. Two weeks ago, the Bush Administration detained medical aid for Cuba at the Maine-Canada border - hospital gowns, stethoscopes, even breast pumps - although they allowed the very same sort of aid to pass into the U.S. from Vancouver, Toronto, and Winnipeg. Demonstrations continue in Canada and the US for the release of that aid.

"We are going to allow Homeland Security a couple of weeks to reconsider their decision to seize these computers today," said Rev Lucius Walker, Jr, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "By then we will have returned from Cuba. Our supporters around the US will have contacted their elected officials to let them know about the pettiness of the US government's policies toward Cuba. And we will be prepared to mount yet another campaign to win the release of this humanitarian aid for our sisters and brothers in Cuba."

"Our caravans are like water dropping onto a rock," said Rev. Diane Baker of Dallas, TX. "The rock may seem impenetrable, but we just keep on keeping on -- because the water always wins."

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which has been working for social justice since 1967. Photographs of the caravan are available at www.pastorsforpeace.org

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05.10.07: Pastors for Peace to Launch 18th Non-Violent Challenge to Immoral US Blockade of Cuba

Over 130 Pastors for Peace volunteers from the US, Canada and Europe will challenge the immoral and illegal US blockade and travel restrictions against Cuba at the US - Mexico border on July 17th. They expect to collect 100 tons of humanitarian aid during a two-week caravan that will converge in McAllen, Texas before traveling on to Cuba without US treasury department licenses. They intend to deliver the school buses, educational supplies, medicines, and medical supplies gathered in communities throughout the US and Canada.

The 18th Friendshipment Caravan will traverse fourteen separate routes across the country stopping in 47 US states and 6 Canadian provinces. Along the way the caravan will be hosted in 125 communities who support a new US Cuba policy based on respect and non-aggression. This year communities have particularly collected aid for Cuban elders.

"As people of faith and conscience, it is our duty to resist and condemn this cruel US policy," declared Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., Executive Director and founder of IFCO, a 40-year old ecumenical agency.  "IFCO/Pastors for Peace rejects this licensing system as both immoral and illegal. It is immoral because it endangers the lives of millions of Cubans and inflicts suffering on innocent children, as well as adults. It is illegal under international law because it uses medicine and food as weapons of war to force another nation to change its government. Licensing is also unconstitutional because it requires people of faith to submit their acts of conscience and friendship to government licensing, in violation of our right to freedom of religious expression, political thought, association and travel," continued Walker.

Despite calls for an end to the blockade and travel ban from the UN and the overwhelming majority of nations around the world, and despite growing opposition in Congress to the policies, the Bush Administration has continued to tighten restrictions against Cuba, and is using "homeland security" funds to harass those suspected of travel to the island including the US citizens who participated in the last three caravans.

"Our non-violent caravan of peace-loving individuals is a challenge to this violation of our rights to express our faith and to travel to Cuba" said Rev.Thomas Smith, President of the Board of Directors of IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

Since 1992 Pastors for Peace has used hunger strikes and mass mobilizations to successfully challenge US government attempts to confiscate vehicles and humanitarian aid bound for Cuba. The ecumenical initiative is a project of IFCO, the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, and has delivered more than 2,500 tons of urgently needed assistance to the Cuban people without seeking a US Treasury license.

Members of the press are invited to accompany the eighteenth IFCO/Pastors for Peace US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan on either all or part of the caravan.

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