CARAVAN TO CUBA TO CROSS US/MEXICO BORDER IN DEFIANCE

[roody]

IN DEFIANCE OF US BLOCKADE AND TRAVEL BAN*

On July 20th , 2011, the 22nd Pastors for Peace US/Cuba Friendshipment
Caravan will cross the US/Mexico border on its way to Cuba. They will
deliver 100 tons of humanitarian aid and defy the US trade and travel
blockade against Cuba. This aid includes everything from computers to
pencils, hammers to plumbing pipes, medications to portable solar panels.

"Today at the US/Mexico border we will stand together with peace-loving
people all over the world against the cruel and inhumane US blockade
against Cuba. The US blockade is a criminal policy aimed against the
people of Cuba, and it is our human obligation to see that this blockade
is ended," said IFCO board president Rev. Thomas E. Smith.

This year's Caravan to Cuba will focus on the achievements of Cuba's
young people through a program of meetings and exchanges with students,
artists, scientists and farmers. "We are especially looking forward to
witnessing the graduation ceremony at the Latin American School of
Medicine. This year 20 young people from the United States, who received
a free medical education in Cuba, will walk across the stage as
professionals ready to bring low-cost health care to those who need it
most in the US," said Ellen Bernstein, acting co-director of
IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

The Caravan will also meet with the families of the Cuban 5, political
prisoners held unjustly in US jails since 1998.
The response of US border officials to the Caravan varies from year to
year, and often items of humanitarian aid have been confiscated. Most
notably, in 1993 a little yellow school bus bound for Cuba was detained
by US Customs, and then released after 23 days of a hunger strike by 13
participants aboard the bus. In 1996, five people fasted for 93 days for
the release of hundreds of computers. Last year 5 computers were
confiscated. Press is invited to cover the crossing. Caravan
participants will be available for interviews on the border in Texas, as
well as over the phone. Photos are available upon request.

The Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan is a project of the
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which has
been working for racial, social, and economic justice since 1967.

*For more
<http://www.pastorsforpeace.org/>_
*For updates on the border crossing, follow us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pastorsforpeace*_

http://ifconews.org/node/1143

[silverweb]

1. K&R

:kick:

[flamingdem]

2. good they are continuing the caravan nt