Church Groups Lead an Unauthorized Trip to Cuba

[guajira]

Amazing that we spend billions to build schools in Iraq, but are not permitted to send a school bus to Cuba!!

snippet:
HIDALGO, Texas (AP) — School buses and other vehicles loaded with medical and office equipment crossed the border into Mexico on Wednesday on a relief trip to Cuba that violates the U.S. embargo.

It was the 14th straight year that Pastors for Peace, an American humanitarian aid group, has sought to bring supplies to the impoverished Communist nation despite the embargo.

"It's a policy that has no redeeming value," said the Rev. Lucias Walker, a New Jersey pastor who founded Pastors for Peace. "What we're doing is an act of civil obedience to a higher power that says you should love your neighbor."

The group's inaugural "Friendship Caravan" in 1992 drew attention when news cameras filmed federal border officials trying to wrest a load of Bibles from a Catholic priest.
more....

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/national-27/1089223143300520.xml

[Mika]

1. Why are you suprised? The Dem party panders to this too

Will a Kerry/Edwards team change any of this? I doubt it. Its just not high on the agenda. As a matter of discussion, I have seen a few posts here on DU gloating over the fact that the Cuban-American community is getting burned by Bush's new travel policy as if it is some sort of game of "gotcha" or something like a ball game score. Its not. People are being severely hurt by these new sanctions, and I don't see much hew and cry over it by the Dem party.

:puke:


... because our Bonesman and trial lawyers are better than their Bonesman and trial lawyers

[lapfog_1]

10. It is past time

I know elections can turn on small single issue voting blocks, and
this is why some policies are put forth by both Repugs and Dems (here
I chastise the Dems more, they should just know better and follow what
is right to do), but this whole cold war Cuba thing is just plain folly.

Even the Cubans in Florida, who are the voting block being pandered
to with this out of date and non-working and stupid embargo policy,
are tired of it, especially the part about visits and sending money
and such. It's their own families that are being hurt. Kerry and
Edwards should now just stand up and declare that relations with Cuba
will follow the same doctrine as relations with other hard line
communist countries, namely China. We trade, visit, etc, etc, but
restricted technology sales and military sales. (Not that Cuba is
in any danger of jumping into an arms race with the US).

We can at least be consistent with the application of foreign policy.

The hard line anti commie Florida cubans are not going to vote dem
anyway (they haven't since before Nixon). So declare a rational
policy and write off their votes. Eventually an open trade and visit
policy will lead to more democracy in Cuba anyway... and most of the
exiles can return and BUY back what they lost in the revolution, for
a fraction of what they have here in the US, if that's what they
want to do.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Just heard Senator Dorgan speaking against the embargo and the travel ban

today on C-Span.

He mentioned that time after time we've gotten a strong vote together in the Senate, in the House of Representatives to have it undone at the last minute by some nasty bidness from the _Bush White House.

He also said that as little as the window for trade is, through which our food producers are selling wheat, rice, poultry, corn, fruit, etc. to Cuba, the _Bush administration has been pushing with everything they've got to close it down completely.

This is something we never knew. Damn their nasty hides to hell. Cheney them.

ANY CHANGE whatsoever would be in everyone everywhere's best interest.

[Mika]

5. Well. we know why the dems allow this. Money

Keeping the issue "on the table" keeps the money rolling in for both sides. That's why there is a tacid agreement to allow the anti-sanction language placed into bills and amendments to be killed in markup committees. That's one reason that I do not believe that there will never be an invasion of Cuba ever planned.. that would kill off the campaign funding from the respective bases of the pro and anti sanctions factions.

Let the status quo reign. :puke:



Kerry's stated policy on Cuba:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8848574.htm

Under a Kerry administration Cuba will remain under US sanctions

Under a Kerry administration we will still be travel banned unless our travel is deemed politically worthy by US gov jackboots

Mr Kerry, Tear down the wall!

[guajira]

3. Rev. Lucias Walker is Not Afraid of B* !!!

from the article:
"It's a policy that has no redeeming value," said the Rev. Lucias Walker, a New Jersey pastor who founded Pastors for Peace. "What we're doing is an act of civil obedience to a higher power that says you should love your neighbor."

This is a concept the soon to be ex-pres. couldn't possibly understand. His higher power is OIL.

[hippywife]

4. Here's my email today from the group

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ellen Bernstein, IFCO
July 7, 2004
(in McAllen TX)
Lucia Bruno IFCO
(NYC)
Photos:
ifconews.org

Cuban Friendshipment Caravan Ready to Roll
When: PRESS CONFERENCE July 7th, 2004, 9:15 am (approx.)
What: Hundreds of US citizens cross the border taking humanitarian aid to Cuba
Where: Just north of the Hidalgo bridge to Reynosa (in the lot next to Whattaburger)

After days of intense preparation in San Juan, Texas, the Cuban Friendshipment Caravan is ready to pass through US Customs at Hidalgo, Texas, Wednesday morning carrying over 100 tons of humanitarian aid for shipment to Cuba. More than 100 US citizens are risking being punished by OFAC for taking the aid.

Our strength is derived from our willingness to follow our conscience in the face of efforts to make a cruel and inhumane blockade even more punitive, said Reverend Lucius Walker, IFCO Executive Director. Our nation's foreign policy is too important to leave to the exclusive domain of politicians. How we relate to our brothers and sisters in Cuba is not something I want President Bush, or Colin Powell to be in charge of."

After crossing the border, the Caravan will then travel to Tampico, Mexico, where the humanitarian aid will be unloaded and shipped, by boat, to Cuba. The aid will be distributed by the Ecumenical Distribution Committee in Cuba.

The Caravanistas have been in San Juan since Sunday, sorting and manifesting the humanitarian aid, attending meetings on cultural sensitivity and non-violence training, and making repairs on numerous school buses and trucks. Visiting 127 cities along 13 routes (3 of which started in Canada), the "Caravanistas" have spent the last two weeks on the road collecting the aid and talking to church and community groups in every city.

The Caravanistas are from the US, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, and Mexico and range in age from 10 to 91 years. They represent a vast cross section of religious, economic, political and personal beliefs, but they are united in their displeasure with the United Statescontinued economic blockade of Cuba (in place since 1962).

Sponsored by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace (ifconews.org), this is the 15th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba. The Caravan is carrying hospital equipment, medical supplies, computers, bicycles, and school supplies which are in short supply in Cuba.

The Friendshipment Caravan is a non-violent, non-licensed protest of the travel restrictions against US citizens and the hardships faced by average Cubans due to the inability of Cuba to trade freely with other countries.

Access to medications such as insulin and ibuprofen as well as modern medical equipment has produced unnecessary suffering in this Caribbean island country of 11.5 million people.

The "Caravanistas" will then return on July 19 and, in a reverse challenge, attempt to bring Cuban products back into the United States.


"Let us not love in word: but in deed and in truth." 1 John 3:18

IFCO/Pastors for Peace
402 W 145th Street, New York, NY 10031
212-926-5757; fax: [phone]; web: http://www.ifconews.org


I wish them well and pray for their safety. They are a truly brave and generous group of people.

[Malva Zebrina]

6. How impoverished is this "communist" nation of Cuiba?

From what I read, it boasts a literacy rate that exceeds that of the United STates and it also provides health care for ALL of it's citizens.

Each person seems to be respected as a human being who may be sufferikng, as far as their health is concerned.

It also sends it's very well trained doctors who are sent off to study in foreign countries, to help in other parts of the world that suffer from lack of trained medical doctors.

Additionally, it seems that Cuba is in the forefront of development when it comes to organic farming methods, having developed many methods that do not jeapardize the health of it's soil or it's population by the use of harmful agriculture pesticides, by the exemplary organic farming methods it has developed that work for the beneifit of all humans. This is the astonishing result of the imposed embargoes and sanctions imposed upon Cuba by the US.

I(t seems to me that
Cuba has thumbed it's nose at the agribusiness that dominates most of the agriculture in the US.

and it has shown that it can do better than those agribussinesses that destroy the land and the soil.
It simply developed an alternative that worked and that worked better.

[Mika]

7. President Castro said last week..

Last week president Castro said at a rally that Cuba should erect a monument for each designer and writer of US laws that have the intent of creating hardship on Cuba as a testament to the solutions that Cuba has created for each.


While I agree with the entire concept of your post there is still no justification for the US sanctions on Cuba and Americans. The family separation issue alone is an egregiously inhumane act, but the Helms-Burton law (signed by Clinton) is one of the most damaging things to happen to Cuba’s health care system, due to its extraterritorial nature (involving the banning of sale of items and drugs registered and patented in the USA to Cuba). While the hardships caused by the US sanctions have brought out the best in survival and social skills in Cuba, just think of how advanced and progressive Cuba could have been without the unjust hindrances that the US has perpetrated against the island and its people.


Kerry said that he wants to continue the same old crap - sanctions and "regulated" travel.


Let the status quo reign. :puke:


Kerry's stated policy on Cuba:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8848574.htm

Under a Kerry administration Cuba will remain under US sanctions

Under a Kerry administration we will still be travel banned unless our travel is deemed politically worthy by US gov jackboots

---

Mr Kerry, Tear down the wall!

[hippywife]

8. Every dark cloud does

have it's silver lining. It's true that the trade embargo has forced them to return to organic, sustainable methods of farming what they are able to.

On the downside, they used to be a huge manufacturer of pharmaceuticals for export to the world; now because of not only the American embargo but the pressures this country puts on other countries not to trade with them, they can't even manufacture many of the drugs they need for themselves.

They do recognize the human right to healthcare, shelter, and food. While they attempt to provide these things to their people, you can only get so far when few will engage in trade with your country.

[hippywife]

9. From the American Association For World Health

After a year-long investigation, the American Association for World Health has determined that the U.S. embargo of Cuba has dramatically harmed the health and nutrition of large numbers of ordinary Cuban citizens. As documented by the attached report, it is our expert medical opinion that the U.S. embargo has caused a significant rise in suffering - and even deaths - in Cuba. For several decades the U.S. embargo has imposed significant financial burdens on the Cuban health care system. But since 1992 the number of unmet medical needs -patients going without essential drugs or doctors performing medical procedures without adequate equipment - has sharply accelerated. This trend is directly linked to the fact that in 1992 the U.S. trade embargo - one of the most stringent embargoes of its kind, prohibiting the sale of food and sharply restricting the sale of medicines and medical equipment - was further tightened by the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act.

A humanitarian catastrophe has been averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a health care system designed to deliver primary and preventive health care to all of its citizens. Cuba still has an infant mortality rate half that of the city of Washington, D.C.. Even so, the U.S. embargo of food and the de facto embargo on medical supplies has wreaked havoc with the island's model primary health care system. The crisis has been compounded by the country's generally weak economic resources and by the loss of trade with the Soviet bloc.

lots more here with specifics:
http://www.ifconews.org/aawh.html

[Judi Lynn]

11. A short time ago, I heard debate in the House of Representatives

on C-Span. Only got a chance to hear part of it. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican has introduced an amendment AGAIN, the Flake-Davis Amendment to remove the travel ban to Cuba.

The anti-travel ban people were quiet and reasonable, and bipartisan. The pro-travel ban (and anti-Flake amendment) people were all Republicans, and VERY hot under the collar, and lying like sons of gritches, especially Dana Rohrbacher from Arizona or California or wherever. He was either profoundly ignorant, or he was hoping he could pull the wool over the eyes of some Americans who don't know spit about Cuba.

In the short time I saw them, both Republican Butch Otter (Idaho) and Ron Paul (Texas) made superior comments and reasoning on dropping the ban. One of them stated that that the move to crush Cuba is iron-fisted and cruel and inhuman. Republicans!

Gonna have to check with my Representative's trusty assistant who has been totally informed on these Cuba movements for a long time. It looks as if both the Senate and House are working at the same time on creating that BIG veto-proof vote which will fly right past Bush this year. I really hope.

By the way, momentum for removing the embargo and travel ban GROWS steadily, year by year, and it must be acknowledged. More and more bipartisan effort is being made to join the sane world.

[5X]

12. Laredo Morning Times article

Just found this:

http://www.lmtonline.com/news/s15.htm

[Judi Lynn]

13. This is a great article! Hope a lot of people will see it.

Couldn't be clearer what's going on:

Todd Ricker, a 38-year-old labor organizer from Portland, Maine, said his previous trips to Cuba had convinced him that the embargo was immoral and inhumane.

"That the U.S. government is somehow increasing Democracy in Cuba and other places abroad doesn't even pass the straight face test," he said. "They are hampered by the blockade from being able to purchase different types of equipment, hardware, and medicines," he said.

Sven Simonsen, a 53-year-old journalist from Denmark, said he and other foreigners were participating to show that the blockade was internationally condemned.

"This is so harmful to the Cuban people and it is illegal and it is in contradiction with international law," he said. He added that it also was harmful to Denmark and other countries who want to trade with Cuba but are afraid of the consequences within the larger U.S. market.

07/08/04
(snip/)

Sure could have been worse! As soon as _Bush moved into the country's White House, he had the border guards in Maine seize all the hospital equipment and computers they were trying to take there to send on to Cuba.

Our Senate and House of Representatives are working RIGHT NOW on getting something done about the travel ban and the embargo.

The House legislation is called the Flake-Davis amendment. Congress is completely bi-partisan in these efforts. Republicans are working against this filthy right-wing power-playing.