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URGENT ACTION CUBA URGENT ACTION CUBA URGENT ACTION
February 14, 1996
PASTORS FOR PEACE CARAVAN WILL TRY TO CROSS BORDER AGAIN
Dear Friends,
We have received a request from Pastors for Peace regarding the seizure
of 300 computers donated by U.S. citizens and 23 donated by Canadian
citizens to the health system in Cuba. On January 31, when a caravan
of Americans and Canadians attempted to cross into Mexico south of San
Diego, U.S. riot police and border guards used undue force to
confiscate the computers, injuring several people, and arrested and
later released 14 men and four women, including Rev. Lucius Walker,
Executive Director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community
Organization (IFCO)- Pastors for Peace and Rev. George Hill, a
Presbyterian pastor from California.
At the U.S./Canadian border at Blaine, Washington, the computers had
been legally bonded for $100 U.S., guaranteeing passage and export
through the U.S. into Mexico. The final destination of Cuba was clearly
stated on the bond. Customs officials in Blaine assured the Canadians
that they could take the computers through into Mexico for Cuba. U.S.
officials in San Diego have so far refused to return the legally bonded
computers.
On Saturday February 17, 1996, the caravan participants, including two
Canadians, Athene Lohan and Brian Rohatyn, will again attempt to cross
the border south of San Diego into Mexico and then go to Cuba.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
The U. S. economic blockade of Cuba was declared in 1962 to put
pressure on Cubans to overthrow Fidel Castro. It imposed a ban on all
trade with Cuba and pressured governments and businesses in other
countries, such as Canada, to withhold aid, trade, and technology from
Cuba, using its clout with international lending institutions to
prevent access to credit. The Torricelli Law, passed in 1992, tightens
the embargo even further by making it impossible for foreign
subsidiaries of U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba, and denying
commercial ships access to U.S. ports if they are carrying goods for
Cuba. The embargo has been condemned repeatedly by the United
Nations.
Pastors for Peace, a project of IFCO, was founded in 1988 by Rev.
Walker, after he was wounded in a contra ambush while leading a
religious delegation in Nicaragua. For over six years, Pastors for
Peace has organized 18 humanitarian aid caravans-15 to Central America
and three to Cuba, delivering hundreds of tons of aid directly to
grassroots organizations, churches and hospitals. Thousands of people
in the U.S. have been mobilized to educate themselves about the real
impact of U.S. government policy in Central America and the
Caribbean. Pastors for Peace has ongoing programs in Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Guatemala and Cuba.
Canada has always maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba but the U.
S. blockade through the Torricelli Act (1992) seeks to punish other
countries who do business or even take humanitarian aid to Cuba.
RECOMMENDED ACTION.
Please write or send a fax to the U. S. Embassy in Canada requesting U.
S. authorities to allow Pastors for Peace to travel with the computers
to Mexico and from there to deliver the donation to the Cuban health
system.
Please also write to the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs asking
him to contact U. S. authorities with the request to return the
computers and allow the caravan to cross the border. Please send
copies of this request to the Foreign Affairs critics for the Reform
Party and N.D.P.
Appeals to:
Hon. James Blanchard Fax #613 238 5720
U. S. Ambassador to Canada
100 Wellington St.
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5T1
Hon. Lloyd Axworthy Fax # 613 996 0461
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
House of Commons. Ottawa, Ontario K1A OA6
Bob Mills, M.P. Fax # 613 995 6831
Svend Robinson, M.P. Fax # 613 992 5501
Both are at the House of Commons- no postage necessary.
Gerardo Otero
Latin American Studies
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6 Canada
Tels. (604) 291-4508 (of.), 945-0773 (hm.), fax: 291-5950
E-Mail: otero@sfu.ca