From: sangu@igc.apc.org (David Sangurima)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: NLNS:Cuba Frienship Caravan
Date: 8 Oct 92 03:44:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473800336:000:3397
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!sangu    Oct  7 20:44:00 1992


From: David Sangurima <sangu>
Subject: NLNS:Cuba Frienship Caravan


[Credit Line: this is from New Liberation News Service; for more info
write - Internet: nlns@igc.apc.org]

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/* Written  3:24 pm  Oct  5, 1992 by nlns in cdp:nlns.samples */
/* ---------- "NLNS Packet 3.2 *** 9/28/92" ---------- */

The US/Cuba Friendshipment: A Caravan to Break the Blockade

(NLNS)--The Berlin Wall is gone, the USSR is being sold off to the 
highest Western bidder, but the Cold War lives on in new and 
insidious ways. At the same time, the 33 year old US imposed 
embargo against Cuba continues prohibiting the US from trading any 
items with Cuba including much-needed medicines, food and fuel. 
The US is the world's largest producer of medicines, but Cuba cannot 
even buy aspirin or essential medical diagnostic equipment from our 
country. The US government exerts pressure on other countries to 
halt trade with Cuba as shown recently when they approached a 
Swedish medical company persuading them not to ship a child's heart 
monitor to Cuba.  This year President Bush further tightened the 
embargo when he ruled by executive order that any ship from another 
country that docks in a Cuban harbor is prohibited from docking in a 
US harbor for six months.
	The US/Cuba Friendshipment Caravan leaving for Cuba in 
November is the first-ever public mass challange to the US blockade. 
The caravan will question the legitimacy of "The Trading with the 
Enemy Act" and travel ban by transporting bicycles, medicines such 
as AZT and other much needed supplies to Cuba. Over 100 vehicles 
and 200 drivers will travel along 8-10 routes through the US, 
stopping each day in a different city for educational presentations, 
press conferences, prayer vigils and aid collections. The caravan 
will arrive at El Paso, Texas where together with the Mexican 
solidarity movement, demonstrations against the US blockade will 
be held on both sides of the border. From there the caravan will 
travel to the port of Tampico, Mexico, where it will be met by a 
Cuban freighter. The caravan participants will spend a week in Cuba 
touring hospitals, schools and work places. They will further 
challange the embargo by purchasing rum, cigars and other products 
of the Cuban economy to redistribute on their return to the US.
	Caravan participants believe we can't change policy unless we 
challenge it. Spokesperson Tony Newman had this to say: "The US 
blockade has caused immeasurable losses to the Cuban people and is 
harsh punishment for a third world nation that's made tremendous 
advances in the areas of healthcare, education, illeteracy, racism, 
women's rights, hunger and poverty. In Cuba they have a saying, 
'Defendemos la esperanza' ('we defend hope'). The Cuban people are an 
example of a formerly colonized, underdeveloped country fighting 
against all odds to build a system that humanizes rather than 
dehumanizes and we really need to support that."
	The US/Cuba Friendshipment, sponsored by a coalition headed 
by Pastors for Peace, is currently working all over the country to 
bring together potential drivers, passengers and the donations 
necessary to pull off the caravan.  
For more information, please 
contact:
National Office: Pastors for Peace 331 17th Ave. SE Minneapolis, MN 
55414 (612) 378-0062

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