Pastors for Peace Wind Up Solidarity Visit to Cuba
HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 2 (acn) The members of the 21st US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan wound up their visit to Cuba on Monday, August 2nd after participating in a program of activities which included conferences and visits to social, economic and cultural places of interest.
The caravan members participated in a farewell dinner and cultural event at the Casa de la Amistad in Havana on Saturday night. Attending the activity were the president of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP) Kenia Serrano, Vice President of ICAP, Basilio Gutierrez, representatives of the Central Committee´s Religious Affairs Department and Reverend Raul Suarez, Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, among others.
The 85 member caravan collected 100 tons of humanitarian aid after touring over 100 US cities and challenged Washington´s travel ban by not requesting a license from the Treasury Department. The caravanistas said they have the constitutional right to travel to Cuba and reiterated their condemnation of the US economic blockade against the Cuban people.
Among some of the most important activities during their stay on the island were the encounter with the leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro and their participation in the main activity for the 57th anniversary of the attack against the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and Moncada Garrisons.
Reverend Lucius Walker, Executive Director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) said that the caravanistas will return to the US with the commitment to work harder in pressuring the US government in lifting the unjust economic blockade against Cuba. He stressed that they will look for more creative ways in working in favor of the release of the Cuban Five.
Walker also said that they will work in campaigns to pressure US President Barack Obama into releasing the five anti-terrorist fighters.
Reverend Tom Smith said that they will also continue to work in breaking the media silence regarding Cuba and get the people in the US to learn about the real Cuba.
He said that more and more young people are joining their caravan each year. Smith recalled that about 80 percent of this year´s caravanistas are people that have come to Cuba for the first time.
“That is very important, it is an example that people are hungry for information on Cuba and the fact that they came with Pastors for Peace is even more important because they came not as mere tourists but as solidarity activists that will continue their work in favor of the island when they return home.” he said.
Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical center working in favor of social justice since 1967.
