Caravan to Cuba Humanatarian Aid Seized by U.S.

On July 9th I helped bring the 16th Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba Frienshipment to Salt Lake. We held an outreach event that filled the room we used. An article that I had posted in the Utah Indymedia site is included below, with photos.

When the Caravan reached the US border on Thursday, July 21, US Homeland Security and Department of Commerce agents detained the caravan and confiscated some of the donated aid. The busses and the remaining aid got through in the early hours of the next day. A small contingent of caravanistas and Pastors for Peace board members, led by Rev. Lucius Walker, remained behind in McAllen to organize an international campaign to recover the confiscated aid and to secure its passage to Cuba. This effort is still ongoing and help is needed to recover the aid.

You can read more about the situation and how you can help at the Pastors for Peace website

There has also been a recent development in the “Cuban Five” case – see my entry below this one.

The caravanistas conducted a press conference at 7pm, followed by a film and presentation inside the shop “Free Speech Zone”, a local activist retail shop in Sugarhouse.

One of the the themes of the bus murals is “Free the Five”, referring to the five Cuban American political prisoners imprisoned by the U.S. government for their activism in attempting to prevent terrorist attacks on Cuba.

The Caravan has been delivering humanitarian aid the Cuban Citizens for 16 years, a direct defiance of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, which has been in effect since 1959. This year over a ton of aid will be collected from 130 U.S. citiies.

The Caravanistas will take the supplies to Cuba, which was ravaged by Hurricane Dennis just days ago. For years, the Pastors for Peace organization has openly defied the law, saying it’s outdated.

Catherine Murray: “We believe that it is illegal and immoral, and we are going in open defiance of that. We’ll cross the border on the 21st of July and go to Cuba with this aid in our arms.”

“By the end of the route we will have collected 200-tons of aid to take to Cuba. This is very important and obviously very needed,” according to Murray.

Channel 5 appeared and did a nice piece’on its 10:00 news on Saturday night.

People for Peace and Justice of Utah organized this event. for the 2nd consecutive year. Representatives from PPJ would like this to become an annual event, growing it to the point where activists from Salt Lake accompany the caravan to the Mexican border and beyond to Cuba to deliver the aid.