(Sorry if this has already been blogged about. I've been out of the country and away from blog access for a week. I searched and didn't see anything.)
In an act of shameful hypocrisy, the US government has seized part of a yearly humanitarian aid shipment to Cuba being delivered by Pastors for Peace (a ministry of the Interreligious Foundations for Community Organization (IFCO) dedicated to the delivery of humanitarian aid to Latin American and the Caribbean) at the Mexican border. Originally (last week), they had seized the entire shipment, but thanks to public pressure (recall, Cuba just got slammed by Hurricane Dennis!), they've now allowed most of it to go through except the computers and computer accessories (destined for use in classrooms for children with special needs such as visual impairments or learning disabilities).
Please consider contacting your elected representatives about this.
(more below.)
From a
press release about this issued today:
The theme of the 16th Friendshipment caravan is special needs. The computers are intended for use in classrooms for Cuban children with special needs such as visual impairments or learning disabilities.
Since 1992, IFCO/Pastors for Peace has organized 16 caravans to Cuba, which have delivered more than 2500 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. As a matter of principle, Pastors for Peace refuses to request or accept a license for these aid shipments from the US Treasury Department, because they do not want to be complicit with the immoral US economic blockade of Cuba. In 1996, the US government seized 400 computers which the 6th Pastors for Peace caravan was attempting to deliver to Cuba, to form the basis for a system to share medical information and inventory medicines in Cuban hospitals. Five members of the caravan engaged in a 93-day fast, and after an enormous international campaign, the computers were eventually released to go to Cuba.
Since 1996, we have been able to take computers to Cuba every year as a part of our caravans, said Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. OFAC [the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department, which has had primary responsibility for enforcement of US sanctions against Cuba] understood that we were acting on the basis of sound moral principles. Now the White House has shifted enforcement responsibilities to the Commerce Department, with instructions to stop Pastors for Peace from crossing the border this year. In light of this, our resolve must be deeper and stronger than ever. We are going to have to fight to get these computers across the border and on to Cuba, and we will have to be prepared for even more confrontation when the rest of our caravan returns from Cuba.
For more information about the aid caravan and updates on their battle, check out their blog.
Remember, there are eleven million people besides Castro living in Cuba. The embargo is unfairly and immorally targeted at them From the IFCO website:
The US embargo of Cuba causes shortages of food, medicine and other important supplies for eleven million people. The embargo is an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons.
Sound familiar?
(i.e. Being against the embargo does
not mean you are pro-Castro or pro-Communism, just as a position against the sanctions on Iraq in the 90s did not make one pro-Saddam.)
Contacting Congress Information Website
Thank you for your time.