55 Years Is Enough: Lift the Cuba Embargo
Published on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 by OtherWords
55 Years Is Enough: Lift the Cuba Embargo
by Dana Brown
Dressed in a blazer, sweater, and gloves to protect him from the cold of a DC winter, petite 79-year old Reverend Raul Suarez loves to tell his story.
The Reverend asked us to stand up and stretch our hands out towards him, as he stretched his hands out towards us.
“We have always known we are very different: I am Cuban, you are North American. We speak different languages and have different cultures. But today, through sitting here and talking together, I think we all realize how similar we are. At the core of it all, we are all human.”
The man then blessed our group, just as he had done with a group of 25 congressional aides the day before.
This is how we, a group of students, religious leaders, and human rights activists ended our incredible encounter with Reverend Raul Suárez.
The founder and director of Cuba’s Martin Luther King Center, Suarez came to Washington recently, along with five other Cuban religious leaders. They met with lawmakers and Obama administration officials about our nation’s outdated and ineffective embargo against the Caribbean country.
More:
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/19-7
[center]
[/center]
Rev. Raúl Suárez: "Cuba is not the Kingdom of God but We Have Had Many Achievements"
by Zuleika Rivera, LAWG Intern on March 05, 2014
Reverend Raúl Suárez, the founder and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Havana, Cuba, visited the United States this past week as part of a delegation of religious leaders speaking about religious life and freedom in Cuba. Rev. Suárez was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Cuba from 1971 to 2005 and was the president of the Council of Churches. On February 28, 2014 Rev. Suárez spoke on a panel organized by Witness for Peace, to talk about his trip, religious freedom in Cuba as well as the future of U.S.-Cuba relations. This is what he had to say:
The principal, historic churches of the U.S. understand that now is a historic moment. If the President (Obama) is pressured by the churches, Congressmen and other institutions in civil society then the President might change what he can change. The blockade is a combination of several laws enacted by Congress that the President cannot change but there are some things the President can change. Our work here has been a pastoral work. We are interested in politics but we are not politicians. We are interested in the economy but we are not economists, but we understand that there is a biblical and theological base that drives (these entities) and that is what we wanted to communicate to these politicians in Congress.
I’ve been a pastor for 60 years and I don’t like to read sermons, I like to look at people when I talk and look them in the eyes. You are witness that the news in this country (U.S.) is biased toward Cuba, saying that it is hell. Cuba has many problems but Cuba isn’t hell either. We have many good things that have been achieved in our country (Cuba)…Cuba is not the Kingdom of God but we have had many achievements. Well, I end here because I am more interested in your questions. -
More:
http://www.lawg.org/action-center/lawg-blog/69-general/1308-rev-raul-suarez-qcuba-is-not-the-kingdom-of-god-but-we-have-had-many-achievementsq#sthash.rSRi3X1O.dpuf
= new reply since forum marked as read