{"article":{"id":143979,"heading":"IFCO\/Pastors For Peace, Venceremos Brigade Update","author":"Lucia Bruno,Benjamin Ramos","created":"2006-01-11 17:36:27","modified":"2006-01-11 17:36:27","last_modified":"Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:36:27","article":"

For immediate release

CONTACTS:

IFCO\/PASTORS FOR PEACE: Lucia Bruno, 212\/926-5757

VENCEREMOS BRIGADE: Benjamin Ramos, 212\/560-4360

BUSH ADMINISTRATION TARGETS HUNDREDS OF CUBA TRAVELERS:

Members of the Venceremos Brigade and the Pastors for Peace Caravan

promise to resist

government harassment and to defend the right to travel!

New York -- In recent weeks, the Office of Foreign Assets Control

(OFAC), a division

of the US Treasury Department, has conducted a blitz attack on hundreds

of travelers

to Cuba. Members of the Venceremos Brigade and the Pastors for Peace

Friendshipment

Caravans, who have done nothing more than travel to an island less than

90 miles

away, have been issued official letters demanding information and

threatening more

than 200 travelers with fines totaling more than $1.5 million dollars.

They are determined to resist this attack and continue asserting their

Constitutional right to travel.

Since the Bush Administration came into office, it has implemented a

steady wave

of attacks aimed at ending US citizens' ability to travel to Cuba. One

blatant example

is the 2004 restrictions on Cuban Americans' family visits, which now

can only be

made once every three years, only by special written permission, and

only to the

Administration's definition of \"immediate family members.\" There are no

exceptions for emergencies, illness or death. All non-academic

educational programs

and almost all university and college programs have been eliminated.

Much tighter

restrictions apply to religious and humanitarian travel.

OFAC, whose job it is to track 'terrorist financing,' has spent

thousands, if not

millions, of taxpayer dollars and assigned almost two dozen agents to

pursue Cuba

travelers - while only a handful track Osama bin Laden's bank accounts.

\"The Cold War has been over for years. Cuba is not an enemy and Cuba is

not

a threat. It is immoral that our government is spending valuable

resources to restrict

the rights of its own citizens,\" said Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr.,

Executive Director of

IFCO\/Pastors for Peace.

Since 1992, Pastors for Peace has been organizing Friendshipment

Caravans which have

taken hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. Thousands of US

citizens have

traveled with the Caravans, bringing with them hospital equipment,

medical supplies,

computers, bicycles, and school supplies to Cuba. In November, US

Customs announced

its intention to officially seize 50 boxes of computer accessories

(including toner

and cables) which were 'retained' from the Caravan at the Texas border

in July to

prevent their humanitarian delivery to Cuba. Pastors for Peace

continues to demand

release of the computer equipment, which is designated for

visually-impaired children

in Cuba.

Since 1969, the Venceremos (We Shall Overcome) Brigade has been the

means through

which thousands of Americans, especially young people, have traveled to

Cuba. Working

side by side with Cubans on agricultural and construction projects,

brigadistas

also travel throughout the country, meeting and exchanging with their

counterparts

and learning about the achievements and challenges of the Cuban

Revolution. \"We

are committed to defending our rights to travel while seeing the

country for ourselves.

From the beginning we have traveled without government \"permission\" or

license,\" said Bonnie Massey of the Venceremos Brigade.

People who travel with the Venceremos Brigade and Pastors for Peace

believe that

citizens in a democracy must be informed about all issues which affect

their lives

- including foreign policy issues - and travel is key to becoming and

staying informed.

Travel is a constitutional right which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme

Court 1958. In

1984 the Supreme Court abridged those rights in cases where the

Executive Branch gave

priority to foreign policy concerns. But Cuba policy has been subject

to pressure

on successive administrations by a small but influential right-wing

Cuban-American

lobby, which has kept an immoral, archaic, and mean-spirited policy in

place. Polls

indicate that more than 70% of the US people oppose these travel

restrictions, and a

majority of both houses of Congress have voted to end their

enforcement.

Cuba is no threat to the US, yet travel is more restricted than ever.

In the spirit

of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., \"we have the moral obligation to

disobey unjust

laws.\" Venceremos brigadistas and Pastors for Peace caravanistas will

continue

their commitment to stand up for the constitutional rights of US

citizens to travel.

Their travel challenges will continue again with a new brigade and a

new caravan in

the summer of 2006, and they will resist every attempt of the

Administration to block their way.

John Waller - Friendshipment Caravan Coordinator

cucaravan@igc.org<\/a>, www.ifconews.org

cell 416-880-8377

<\/p>\n","contact":"cucaravan@igc.org","link":"www,pastorsfropeace.org","address":"","phone":"John Waller 416-880-8377","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"As we begin to plan for this years caravans and brigades it's important to know where we currently stand in regards to "i know what you did last summer" and how we will continue to oppose the bad neighbor policies of this administration. Please join us for the 17th friendshipment coming to Los Angeles in June, Saludos!","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2006\/01\/143979.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}