Summer 2004 - 15th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba

Press releases from the caravan

July 19, 2004 - More than 100 Federal Agents "Welcome" Pastors for Peace Ambassadors As They Return From Cuba

CONTACT: Ellen Bernstein 646-319-5902 | Lucia Bruno 212-926-5757 or 347-423-4330

More than 100 officers from Homeland security, the Treasury Department, Customs, Immigration and Border Patrol were on hand at the Hidalgo/Reynosa border crossing this morning, to "welcome" the Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan, which is challenging the travel ban against Cuba.

After three hours of meticulous searching through each item in every caravanistas luggage, the federal officers confiscated about a dozen items such as a book of Cuban poetry, a paper flag on a stick, a bag made in China that had the name Cuba on it, maracas, and a tambourine made in Mexico.

The aid the caravan was bringing back as a gift from the people of Cuba – sixty-five one-pound bags of Cuban coffee and ninety-one plastic teddy bears jars of Cuban honey were also seized.

"We were astonished by the number of agents made available this morning," said Lucius Walker, Executive Director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "At a time when our nation is in economic crisis and supposedly fighting a war on terrorism, it is immoral that our government wasted a days salary of more than 100 officers to monitor a group of peaceful US citizens who are exercising their constitutional right to travel."

As elderly women were forced to answer questions about where they bought each individual item of clothing in their suitcase, young girls were brought to tears by insistent questioning. An underage minor was separated from her guardian and coerced into signing a form.

Despite threats from the Bush Administration, Pastors for Peace delivered over 100 tons of humanitarian aid and visited schools and hospitals in Cuba. This year marked the 15th Anniversary of the caravans to Cuba.

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency based in Harlem. Since 1992, the group has educated US citizens about the immorality of current US policy toward Cuba.

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July 18, 2004 - Despite Threats, Pastors for Peace Ambassadors Return from Cuba

CONTACT: Lucia Bruno, 212-926-5757

Despite threats from the Bush Administration, Pastors for Peace will cross back into the US over the International Bridge in Hidalgo, Texas on Monday, July 19th at 8:30 AM, where they will meet the press and supporters.

The group is returning from a ten-day stay in Cuba, where delivered over 100 tons of humanitarian aid and visited schools and hospitals. In a "reverse challenge", they will carry with them on their return symbolic quantities of Cuban honey and coffee which represent some of the trade possibilities that exist with Cuba.

"These 120 people have taken the responsibility to be goodwill ambassadors to Cuba. We represent ourselves and millions of people in the U.S. who don't agree with the immoral and unjust US policy. We challenge the U.S. law. We base ourselves on love and not on hate. " said Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "We don't represent Bush, we don't represent the right-wing Cuban-Americans in southern Florida. We represent the millions of people in the U.S. who want a better relationship with Cuba."

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department has threatened the group with fines and imprisonment for defying the Bush administration's tough new sanctions against Cuba.

"We don't know what awaits us when we attempt to cross back into the US from Mexico on July 19th." said Ellen Bernstein, IFCO's associate director. "The US government may try to harass or intimidate us, but we are determined to continue to express our good will to Cuba and our moral right to travel there. Cuba is not our enemy."

Pastors for Peace crosses back over the US - Mexico border on the same day and time that the Venceremos Brigade and the African Awareness Association return to the United States by foot over the International Peace Bridge into Buffalo, NY. These Cuba travelers spent two weeks in Cuba -- also without securing a "license" to travel from the Bush Administration.

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency based in Harlem. Since 1992, the group has educated US citizens about the immorality of current US policy toward Cuba. More information can be found on our web site: http://www.ifconews.org

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July 8, 2004 - Pastors for Peace Pushes Forward to Cuba - 100 Tons of Aid Passes Through to Mexico - Participants Threatened With Fines Upon Return

CONTACT: Lucia Bruno, 212-926-5757 or 347-423-4330

The Pastors for Peace caravan pushed forward through the Mexican border on Wednesday despite threats of fines from the dozens of Treasury Department agents who watched as more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid moved closer to its destination in Cuba.

"The US is at a point in its history when it need more friends. But instead of making friends, the Bush administration seems intent on making enemies." said Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of Pastors for Peace. "Making this journey is an expression of our opposition to our nation’s policy towards Cuba."

As the caravan assembled and rolled out to the border they were surrounded by more than 40 law enforcement agents said Ellen Bernstein, associate director of Pastors for Peace. "They took video, photographed and hovered overhead in helicopters."

More than 100 individuals from the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe will travel to Cuba as part of the 15th Friendshipment Caravan despite the threats of fines from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). As the caravan moved along on its journey, OFAC agents handed out letters threatening them with fines if they continued on to Cuba. "There is nothing new in these letters," said Bernstein. "We won't be stopped. We won't be told how and where and how many can travel to meet with our Cuban brothers and sisters."

"The Cuban people are not terrorists." said Walker. "They are a simple, generous people. They love their country. They love the people of the US. They want to live in peace. And yet, we spend on third of the OFAC budget enforcing sanctions against Cuba, instead of protecting the world from real terrorists. How does this make any sense? It doesn't."

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency based in Harlem. Since 1992, the group has educated US citizens about the immorality of current US policy toward Cuba.

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July 5, 2004 - "Caravanistas"Mass in McAllen Texas

Press Conference Tuesday July 6th, 2004 11 AM Renewal Center, Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle National Shrine 400 N. Virgen de San Juan Blvd. San Juan, Texas

Contact: Ellen Bernstein IFCO 646-319-5902 (in McAllen TX) Lucio Bruno IFCO 212-926-5757 or 347-423-4330 (NYC)

Scores of people from throughout the US, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, and Mexico are currently in San Juan, Texas making final preparations to pass into Mexico with 100 tons of humanitarian aid bound for Cuba. They will attempt to pass through US Customs on July 7th, in McAllen, Texas.

Sponsored by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace (ifconews.org), this, the 15th Friendshipment Caravan, will then travel to Tampico, Mexico where the aid -- hospital equipment, medical supplies, computers, bicycles, and school supplies -- will be shipped to Cuba by boat. The "Caravanistas" will then unload the aid which will be distributed by the Ecumenical Distribution Committee in Cuba.

The "Caravanistas" range in age from 10 to 82 years and represent a vast cross section of religious, economic, political and personal beliefs, but they are united in their displeasure with the United States’ continued economic blockade of Cuba (in place since 1962). 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 Friendshipment Caravan is a non-violent, non-licensed protest of 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. Ships which carry freight to Cuba are forbidden to dock in US ports for six months after docking in Cuba.

The Bush Administration, by Executive Order, has recently tightened travel to Cuba by Cuban Americans, limiting visits to once every three years, despite any mitigating circumstances such as a sudden illness or death within one’s immediate family. The Administration, in tones reminiscent of the buildup to the Iraqi war, is calling for "regime change" in Cuba. Many see this as a way to appeal to Cuban Americans who fled Cuba after the Cuban Revolution, most of whom live in South Florida. The new travel restrictions also threaten the right of 80 US students, who are currently studying medicine in Cuba on full scholarship, to continue their studies.

"Our nation's foreign policy is too important to leave to the exclusive domain of politicians," stated IFCO Executive Director Reverend Lucius Walker today in Texas. "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. We have to be the real bearers of foreign policy. Differences of opinion between governments should be no basis for hostile relations, trade restrictions, or limitations on travel."

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

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June 18, 2004 - Massive Challenge To Defy Bush On Cuba: Pastors For Peace Launches "A Moral Alternative To An Immoral Foreign Policy"

CONTACTS: Lucia Bruno 212-926-5757 or 347-423-4330 | Ellen Bernstein 646- 319-5902

As the Bush administration ratchets up restrictions on travel and aid to Cuba, Pastors for Peace has organized a massive challenge. The group plans to travel to Cuba on July 9th to deliver more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid and incalculable good will. Undeterred by threats of fines and prosecution, the faith based group is determined to get their message across: Enough is enough with an outdated, punitive foreign policy towards Cuba.

Visiting 127 different cities along 13 routes, the enormous organizing effort has taken more than six months to assemble. Many of the 25 vehicles in the caravan, which include brightly painted yellow school buses, trucks and cars – will be donated to churches and community groups in Cuba.

Traveling through the US in late June and early July the group will converge at the US border at McAllen, TX. More than 100 participants and an expected 100 tons of humanitarian aid will be boxed and loaded into caravan vehicles for the July 7 border crossing into Mexico. The donated aid will include urgently-needed hospital equipment, medicines, computers, medical and school supplies, and equipment to make new mattresses for Cuban homes for the elderly.

"As the Bush Administration reaches a new moral low ground, hundreds of thousands of US citizens are proclaiming a moral alternative to Bush’s immoral policy toward Cuba, Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO’s executive director, said. "Our duty as human beings demands that we share with our sisters and brothers in Cuba."

At each stop, the group will discuss why, as people of faith and conscience, they feel compelled to challenge the US’ immoral foreign policy. During educational events and pot luck dinners in 127 cities, the group will collect more aid and participants for their journey.

Three Canadian groups will join in challenging the US blockade when they cross the Canada/US border with aid designated for Cuba: from Montreal into Maine on June 19; from Vancouver/Victoria into Washington on June 20; and from Fort Erie into Buffalo on June 24. A delegation of Mexicans will also join the caravan for the journey to Cuba.

Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency based in Harlem. "Since 1992, we have educated our fellow citizens about the immorality of current US policy toward Cuba. We deliver aid to our sisters and brothers in Cuba, as a civil disobedience against the brutal US economic blockade," said Ellen Bernstein, associate director of IFCO.

The Pastors for Peace caravan is coordinating its return with other organizations which are also challenging the restrictions on travel to Cuba: the Venceremos Brigade, the African Awareness Association, and the Pastors for Peace Caravan will all be returning to the US on July 19.

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May 1, 2004 - Pastors for Peace to Launch Non-Violent Challenge to US Blockade of Cuba

Pastors for Peace and hundreds of volunteers from the US and 7 other countries are slated to cross the US border into Mexico on July 7th challenging US restrictions on travel and aid to Cuba. The group has used hunger strikes and mass mobilizations to successfully challenge the US governments past attempts to confiscate vehicles and humanitarian aid crossing the Mexican border on its way to Cuba. Since 1992, IFCO/Pastors for Peace has delivered more than 2,350 tons of urgently needed assistance to the Cuban people without seeking a US Treasury license.

In this election year the Bush Administration has started cracking down on "people to people" exchanges with Cuba. Despite this, the 15th Friendshipment Caravan will travel along thirteen separate routes across the country, stop in 120 US cities and collect over 60 tons of humanitarian aid. This caravan organized by Pastors for Peace, a project of the faith based Interreligious Foundation for Community organization, will travel to Cuba with school buses, computers, medicines, and school supplies collected from groups across the U.S., refusing US treasury department licenses, as a collective challenge to the Blockade and travel ban.

"As people of faith and conscience, it is our duty to resist and expose this cruel contradiction," declared Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., Executive Director and founder of IFCO, a 36-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 Cubans and inflicts suffering on innocent children, as well as adults. It is illegal under international law because it uses a sanction to be imposed only in time of war against a declared enemy in order 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.

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

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