NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/8431

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Subject: NEWS:US Cuba Caravan Gets Warm Sendoff/ww
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Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


               U.S./CUBA CARAVAN GETS WARM SENDOFF

                       By Brenda Sandburg


The biggest challenge yet to the U.S. blockade of Cuba is
underway. Hundreds of people in cities around the country have
begun rallying in support of the U.S. Friendshipment Caravan,
which began its journey to Cuba on Nov. 6. Church groups,
anti-war and solidarity organizations and Cuba support groups
have shown an intense commitment to defending the sovereignty of
Cuba.

The caravan, consisting of 44 vehicles and 104 drivers, is
visiting over 90 cities on nine routes. It is collecting food,
medical supplies, bicycles  and other humanitarian aid for Cuba.
Originating in Seattle, Sacramento, Boulder, Minneapolis,
Madison, Detroit, Portland, Me., Poughkepsie, N.Y. and Miami, the
routes will converge in Laredo, Texas, and cross the Mexican
border on Nov. 20. Initiated by Pastors for Peace and supported
by many individuals and organizations, the caravan is an historic
challenge to the three-decade blockade imposed by the U.S.
government.

The New York route left Manhattan on Nov. 6. At a press
conference, Rev. Lucius Walker of the Interfaith Community
Organization said this people-to-people project will help
challenge the cruelty of the blockade.

RALLY AT TORRICELLI'S OFFICE

The first stop of the New York group was in Hackensack, N.J.,
where a press conference and rally with over 100 people took
place in front of Rep. Robert Torricelli's office. Torricelli has
become synonymous with U.S. aggression against Cuba since he
introduced a bill, signed by President Bush on Oct. 23, that
would tighten the embargo.

John Jones of the Jersey City All-Peoples Congress told the rally
that Torricelli wants for Cuba what he has allowed in his own
district--homelessness, poverty and hunger.  "There is a blockade
against the oppressed in our own community," Jones declared.

He said thousands of people are losing their jobs and 14,000 will
be cut from general assistance in Jersey City as of Dec. 1. By
comparison, in Cuba, under the harshest of economic conditions,
no one is homeless, there is free education, affordable
healthcare for everyone and racism is outlawed by the
constitution.

The New York group then traveled to Baltimore, where it was met
by representatives from the Central American Solidarity Committee
and the Movement for a Peoples Assembly, along with Rev. Sands
from the Martin Luther King United Methodist Church.

In the Midwest, a send-off meeting for the Detroit group was held
at the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Hall on Nov. 5, where
volunteers signed up to raise bail money and participate in
demonstrations if the U.S. government tries to stop the caravan.
At a meeting in Toledo, Ohio, the next day, the group raised
hundreds of dollars in support of the caravan.

Three hundred people participated in a send-off for the caravan
in Chicago on Nov. 9. The Cuban dance team Los Muequitos, on tour
in the U.S., performed at the rally.

On the West Coast, over 200 people attended a send-off rally in
San Francisco on Nov. 10. It was organized by the Bay Area
U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Coalition, consisting of the Nicaragua
Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Project, the Venceremos Brigade,
International Peace for Cuba Appeal and others. Earlier the same
day, a rally was held at Laney College in Oakland.

Tom Hansen, U.S. coordinator for the caravan and a member of
Pastors for Peace, told the San Francisco rally that the Mexican
National Assembly has invited the caravan into Mexico, negating
all costs for crossing the border and expediting the paperwork.
By contrast, the U.S. government may charge the caravan
participants with breaking the law. People could face a total of
$300,000 in fines and ten years imprisonment. Despite this
threat, the 104 participants in the caravan are "willing to stand
up for the sovereignty and freedom of the Cuban people," Hansen
said.

Hansen also noted that the kick-off event for the group leaving
from Miami was completely organized by Cuban Americans.

Discussing U.S. policy toward Cuba, author Michael Parenti said
it cannot be motivated by national security, because Cuba is not
going to invade the U.S. "It can't be the absence of democracy,"
he stated, "because when Cuba had no democracy of any kind and
people lived in misery" as a total client state of the U.S. under
Batista, the U.S. government loved Cuba. He said the goal of the
U.S. is to control the surplus value of Cuba and gain access to
the country's resources.

Theresa Walsh, a former national director of the Venceremos
Brigade, gave a personal account of Cuba's healthcare system.
Walsh's spine was injured in an accident several years ago. For
the past three years she has been receiving free rehabilitation
in Cuba and has made amazing progress. Patients from all over the
world receive medical treatment in Cuba. Walsh said the blockade
has forced a wheel chair factory to close for lack of ball
bearings. It has also stopped the import of life-saving heart
valves.

Judy Talaugon of the American Indian Movement compared the Native
people's struggle for sovereignty to that of the Cuban people.
Rhonda Collins, of the Nicaragua Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
Project, said the caravan "represents the aspirations of tens of
thousands of people in this country."

In support of the people on the caravan, demonstrations will be
held in many cities on Nov. 20, the day it crosses the border
into Mexico. Activities are also planned for Dec. 1, when the
caravan will cross back into the U.S. For more information, call
[phone].

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"[e-mail]".)


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