Pastors for Peace head for Cuba
By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
Group to defy U.S. embargo to deliver aid
The bus is headed to Havana, Cuba, where the supplies it carries will be distributed to Cubans in need, in defiance of a U.S. embargo against Cuba. The bus itself will be put on a boat and shipped to Havana, where it will be used for public transportation.
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The journey is symbolic as much as it is a way to provide a few needed goods to the Cuban people. Since 1992, the organization has sent caravans of people and supplies to Cuba, directly flying in the face of U.S. policy on Cuba by refusing to obtain licenses to travel there, the only legal way Americans can visit the country.
"It's a civil act of disobedience," said Juanita Rodriguez, a Pastors for Peace member who has traveled to Cuba several times with the organization.
The operation is always risky, as it is possible the groups could be stopped at the Mexico border, or that their supplies, which this time include bicycles, psychology textbooks and computers, could be seized by the U.S. government. In the history of the operation, the caravans have been prevented several times from making the trip, but hunger strikes and media attention garnered public support, and the caravans were eventually able to proceed.
Alicia Jrapko, a San Francisco member of Pastors for Peace as well as a member of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, traveled to Corvallis to see the bus off. She got involved with a 1995 caravan after hearing reports on her local radio news station about the work of Pastors for Peace.
Jrapko believes the blockade against Cuba is immoral and harmful to the Cuban people, and said Americans should be able to travel there freely.
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http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2004/06/24/news/community/thu05.txtFrom previous years:
Vedado, Cuba