Friendshipment breaks U.S. blockade of Cuba

U.S. Treasury Officials demonstrated again today that they are unable and unwilling to enforce the immoral laws that support the 39-year-old U.S. economic blockade of Cuba when they allowed the U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan to pass unimpeded out of U.S. jurisdiction.

The caravan, organized by IFCO/Pastors for Peace, had proceeded to the U.S.-Mexico border crossing on schedule, even after the 83 caravan volunteers were told of Treasury Department threats of fines up to $55,000 per person. The 83 caravan volunteers had voted unanimously to take their 200 tons of humanitarian aid across the U.S.-Mexican border and on to Cuba.

"These threats just strengthened my resolution to change these laws, which are used to punish the people of Cuba by trying to deprive them medical aid," said caravanista Hilda Roberts, veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. "I'll keep organizing 'til the U.S. treats Cuba fairly; and treats me fairly. Why should I be punished for taking medicine to my sisters and brothers in Cuba?"

Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO's executive director, warned, "The Treasury Department can't stop us from going to Cuba, but they may be planning to punish us when we come back. The caravanistas won't all be together then, the press won't be watching, and Treasury officials may think that we are more vulnerable then than we are now - but the U.S. government just doesn't understand the power of people committed to doing justice."

As the 17 vehicles loaded with aid drew up to the border crossing this morning, U.S. customs officials announced that the caravan could proceed without interference or inspection. The four busses, three vans, two trucks and a bookmobile were filled with medicine, medical equipment and other humanitarian aid.

Riding with Rev. Walker were the most precious single donations, pharmaceutical raw materials, which Cuban pharmaceutical workers will use to make thousands of doses of antibiotics. The 83 participants from across the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Africa will spend the night in Reynosa and then travel to Tampico, Mexico.

They will be hosted there by Va por Cuba, a Mexican-Cuban solidarity organization, and join them for an evening cultural event celebrating the success of the Ninth Friendshipment. This year, Mexican longshoremen in Tampico will again donate their labor, and load the humanitarian aid and donated vehicles onto a ship to be transported to Cuba. The Caravanistas, joined by five of the longshoremen, will fly to Havana, and spend a week in Cuba, visiting medical facilities and other areas of interest.

One highlight will be participation in the final celebration, in the Plaza de la Revolution, of the week-long national Ecumenical Religious Celebration of the Protestant Churches of Cuba. While still in Texas, caravanistas met with representatives of the United Farm Workers of America and afterwards donated a truck, originally destined to go to Cuba, in support of their local organizing efforts.

"Farmworkers here are living with the same problems that sugar cane workers in Cuba had before the Revolution - unsafe working conditions, unemployment and poverty, no medical coverage or adequate education for their children - and no organization to help them protect themselves.

We knew the Cubans would expect us to share with these farmworkers in the U.S. - who have even less than Cuban farmworkers do today" said Ned Powell, labor activist "Cuba has come a long way in the past 40 years, and it is a beacon of hope in Latin America, and even in the United States as well." Caravan participants return to Tampico on June 26 and on their return face the hostile U.S. Customs officials as they travel back to their homes in the United States.