Pastors for Peace defy U.S. restrictions against Cuba

The 19 members of the Caravan of Pastors for Peace are continuing today in preparation for travel to Cuba, in an open challenge to restrictions imposed by the U.S. government. A communiqué released in this capital by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples states that over a hundred caravans U.S., Canada and Europe are assembled in the town of McAllen, Texas. There finalizing details for crossing the border from Texas to the Mexican city of Reynosa the upcoming July 13, said the note. During his stay in McAllen conducted an inventory of 100 tons of humanitarian aid for Cuba to be collected. The donation includes medical equipment, education materials, artistic and sporting equipment, plus six school buses and a mobile library. The caravan traveled 125 cities throughout the United States and Canada to collect humanitarian aid and conduct talks on the Cuban reality.

They arrived in Cuba Pastors for Peace

The Caravan of Representatives of the Pastors for Peace, U.S., arrived in Havana on Saturday after Washington circumvent obstacles in its efforts to prevent their arrival at the island. Caridad Diego Bello, head of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba, directors of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples and religious leaders of the largest of the West Indies went to José Martí International Airport to welcome the group . The Reverend Lucius Walker leads the representation, which brings a new solidarity aid to Cuba, despite the obstacles they faced when crossing into Mexican territory by the border Pharr bridge, adjacent to Reynosa. At that point customs of the city state of Tamaulipas, bordering Texas, U.S. agents seized 35 computers, which were part of some 100 tons of cargo, including several vehicles. The members of the nineteenth Friendship Caravan of US-Cuba, in protest, took early passage of a rail car for half an hour in one's own customs control of Pharr, until authorized their entry to Mexico. After they moved to neighbouring port of Tampico to board the humanitarian contribution toward Cuba and, like every year, attended an act of solidarity with the island, in the Plaza de la Libertad of that Mexican city. One hundred members of the movement of friendship with Cuba on Saturday travelled by air to Havana to deliver their donation. The delegation of Pastors for Peace is composed of activists Americans, Canadians, Europeans and Mexicans, and every year challenges the blockade of the U.S. Government against Cuba, including trade and travel of Americans to most of the West Indies. In their journeys by American and Canadian cities, religious collected 100 tons of articles, including medical equipment, for education, art and sport, which means will be allocated to the Cuban people. The contribution also includes several buses, five of which carry the names of Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Rene Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero, unjustly imprisoned in U.S. to combat terrorism. The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization Pastors for Peace has more than 40 years working for social justice, and since 1992, without asking for leave to U.S. Treasury Department, collects its humanitarian cargo in support of the Cuban nation.