WONDER WHY GEORGE W. DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CUBAN PEOPLE?

Find out this July! Come with us to meet:

• A healthy people, with free health care, who live on average to age 77 – the same as the same as those in the U.S. – yet some die prematurely and many others suffer unnecessary pain because the blockade denies them access to much of the world’s medicines and medical equipment.
• A cultured people who receive free education at all levels and have produced many outstanding scientists, artists, musicians, scholars and sports stars. Yet they cannot get access to many basic supplies, because of a 47 year long economic blockade by the U.S. government.
• A proud and humane people who share what they have. Cuba has sent tens of thousands of their doctors around the world to provide free health care to others in need, yet when 1600 Cuban doctors were ready to fly to New Orleans to help out after Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration wouldn’t let them in – just like it tries to stop US citizens from visiting Cuba.

Join the IFCO/Pastors for Peace 19th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba - June/July 2008

• Between June 14 and July 14, 2008 the 19th US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan will travel on 15 different routes to visit more than 125 US and Canadian cities.
• We will travel in school buses, trucks, cars and a bookmobile to Cuba via Mexico with medical and educational supplies donated by groups across the US and Canada as a collective challenge to the blockade and travel ban.
• Five buses will be named in honor of the Five Cuban patriots who are unjustly incarcerated in US jails.
• We will spend 8 days in Cuba in fellowship with our Cuban brothers and sisters, attending cultural events, and visiting social projects such as organic farms, homes for the elderly and health centers including the Latin American School of Medicine. We will meet and learn from Cubans at every level about the problems caused by the blockade and the ways they have creatively responded.
• We will then return to Texas via Mexico, proudly declaring our travel to Cuba and our opposition to this immoral blockade.

Hiphop Without Borders

In 2007, eight Hip-Hop artists traveled on the caravan and participated in an international Hip Hop festival. We also brought turntables, keyboards and records to support Cuban Hip-Hop. This year our caravan will take a larger group of Hip Hop and performing artists to workshop and perform with Cuban artists as a cultural exchange across borders

19th US-Cuba Friendshipment schedule

• JUNE 14-28 Caravan routes - educational events and aid collections in the US and Canada.
• JUNE 29-JULY 2 Participant Orientation in Texas.
• JULY 3-4 Border crossing into Mexico - travel to Tampico — load material aid onto cargo ship.
• JULY 5-12 Fly to Havana - educational program in Cuba.
• JULY 13 Return to Tampico - travel to Mexico/US border.
• JULY 14 Reverse Challenge, cross back into Texas.

The US government says you can't go to Cuba and see things for yourself.
We say you should!

Our Friendshipment Caravans to Cuba call domestic and international attention to the cruel and immoral US economic blockade by delivering humanitarian aid to our sisters and brothers in Cuba without asking permission for a US Treasury Department license. They form a crucial part of the worldwide campaign to end the blockade and create normal relations between the US and Cuba. In November 2007, the United Nations once again voted overwhelmingly (184-4) to condemn the US blockade.

Meanwhile the Bush administration and its "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba" continue desperately to look for more ways to starve the Cuban people into surrendering to US domination. We think that the tide is turning in the US against the blockade. But this issue cannot be left to the politicians - we must take the lead and challenge them by implementing a People to People Foreign Policy that calls for an end to this insidious and immoral policy.

JOIN US!

You can join the caravan as we pass through your community. Many past caravanistas say the time traveling through the US, meeting and staying with local community activists across the US, is as important a part of the experience as the time in Cuba. If your time is limited, you also have the option of making your own way down to join us in Texas on June 29th.

Ways you can get involved

• Come as a caravanista - contact us for an application
• Recruit other caravanistas - get them to request an application form Distribute our Caravan Brochure >
• Get involved locally - host a caravan event in your community – email us at cucaravan@igc.org for a local contact - and if there isn't one, you or your group can take the initiative to host the caravan!
• Collect material aid - let us know so we can send you the aid information packet >
• Help out as a volunteer in the IFCO office in New York, or in your community.

For more information and a caravan application

Email: cucaravan@igc.org

IFCO/Pastors for Peace
418 W. 145th St., New York, NY 10031
Ph: 212-926-5757 Fax: 212-926-5842