Cuba solidarity

[Scott Marshall <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

    PASTORS FOR PEACE/INFOMED CARAVANS WILL CARRY
     MEDICAL AID, INCLUDING COMPUTERS, FOR DELIVERY TO
          CUBAN CHURCHES AND HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

  NEW CHALLENGE TO BLOCKADE COMES JUST 18 DAYS AFTER LAST.
TREASURY AGENTS SEIZED 325 COMPUTERS AND ARRESTED 11 CARAVAN
                PARTICIPANTS IN SAN DIEGO.

In a major challenge to the 35-year U.S. blockade of Cuba, hundreds of people
plan to carry medical
aid,
including computers, across the U.S. Mexico and U.S.,Canada borders on
Saturday', February' 17.
Organized by'
the Interreligious Foundation for Community. Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for
Peace as part of a
continuing effort, the two caravans will leave the U.S. with medical aid,
including computers, bound
For Cuba. One will cross the border from San Diego to Tijuana, Mexico,
starting at 11:30 am, Sat.,
Feb. 17, at San Ysidro. An ecumenical worship service will be held at 11:30
am at the San Ysidro
crossing to set the tone for the day's activities. The border-crossing will
begin at noon. The second
caravan will cross at Highgate, Vermont (north of Burlington) into Quebec.
The aid will be flown to
Havana from Mexico and Canada, both of which oppose the U.S. embargo of Cuba.


Rev. Lucius Walker, director of IFCO, said; "Even in the worst day's of
apartheid, food and medicines
were never stopped from going to South Africa. Even when tens of thousands of
people were
disappeared in Guatemala, trade in food and medicine was never restricted.
The severity of the US
government's economic war on our Cuban neighbors is unprecedented, it is
unnecessary, and it is
immoral. As people of Faith, we are calling the churches and all people of
conscience to say  `NO' to
this brutal policy'."

This latest challenge to the blockade comes just 18 days after a massive U.S.
Treasury Department
attack on a Pastors for Peace Project (INFOMED) caravan attempting to take
325 computers across
the border for delivery to Cuban churches and the country's health care
system. The computers were
intended to provide end user terminals for hospitals, clinics and medical
schools throughout Cuba's 14
provinces. The backbone of the INFOMED system was funded by the United
Nations Project for
Development and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). All the
computers were seized by
the Treasury Department and 17 caravan participants were jailed, 11 of whom
still face Federal felony
charges.

One week later, on Feb. 7, 1996, IFCO was served with a Federal grand jury
subpoena issued by the
Western District Court in Buffalo, NY. The sweeping subpoena demands all IFCO
records pertaining
to two previous Friendshipment Caravans. Several mainline religious
denominations are organizing to
support IFCO in this pending court battle. The grand jury hearing has been
postponed and is now
scheduled for March 24.

Support demonstrations are also planned at the Treasury Department in
Washington DC; at Federal
buildings in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Hartford, CT and Chicago, and US embassies
in the Hague
(Netherlands), London and elsewhere.

                                                                -30-




     --- from list marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---

     ------------------