NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/8568

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Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


Gov't threatens to stop Cuba Friendshipment caravan

By Brenda Sandburg

The U.S. government is threatening to stop the U.S.-Cuba
Friendshipment Caravan from crossing the border into Mexico. The
caravan of 44 vehicles and 104 drivers, which began its journey to
Cuba on Nov. 6, converged in Laredo, Texas, Nov. 17. It is
scheduled to cross the border on Nov. 20.

The caravan's 15 tons of donations--including food, medicine,
school supplies, bicycles and other humanitarian aid--is to be
loaded onto a freighter and shipped to Cuba. Drivers will then fly
to Cuba, where they will spend nine days. They will attend a
conference, do agricultural work and participate in other
activities.

Joan McConnell of the U.S. Treasury Department said that only
certain food items and information materials like bibles may be
exported to Cuba under the U.S. trade embargo. A license must be
obtained from the government to export anything else. The
government does not require a license to export to any other
country.

Pastors for Peace, initiators of the caravan, declared that to
accept the license requirement would be accepting the blockade. "We
believe that a law which results in shortages of food and medicine
for a civilian population is a wrong law, and wrong laws need to be
challenged," pastors for Peace statement said. "We are called by a
higher morality to stand for what is right, and respond to the
needs of our Cuban brothers and sisters." On Nov. 17, Rev. Lucius
Walker Jr., a caravan leader, received a letter from the State
Department telling him that the caravan must receive a license in
order to cross the border.

Houston-based Customs Service spokesperson Judy Turner told Workers
World that representatives of the Office of Foreign Assets Control
will be on site at the border in Laredo to facilitate licensing for
the caravan. Turner said she knew of no other time the Treasury
Department office had been present at a border crossing. The Office
of Foreign Assets Control is responsible for issuing licenses and
setting embargo guidelines.

The Customs Service is charged with enforcing the embargo. Asked
what Customs would do if the caravan proceeded without a license,
Turner said, "We will take whatever action deemed necessary." She
noted that there are three ports of entry in Loredo, and Customs is
prepared to respond to the caravan at all three sites.

Rev. Walker Jr., who is also the executive director of the
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, said: "We are
going to proceed with the Friendshipment according to our plans.
Our objective is not to create a confrontation with the U.S.
government, but rather to move us toward the end of the embargo and
normalization of relations with Cuba."

Walker said the caravan is calling on the U.S. government "to end
its unwarranted hostilities against Cuba. We call upon
President-elect Clinton to respond to the mandate for change that
has been given by U.S. voters. We hope that Clinton will see fit to
issue an executive order to end the embargo, to end this policy of
madness against Cuba, at the earliest possible moment."

Tom Hansen, U.S. coordinator for the caravan and a member of
Pastors for Peace, a project of IFCO, said at a Nov. 17 news
conference in Laredo that the U.S. government must feel very
isolated now. "The Mexican government has designated us a special
humanitarian aid mission. They have waived all export and vehicle
fees. Members of the National Assembly will be meeting us at the
border to welcome us," he said.

In addition, members of the Longshore union have offered to unload
the caravan in Tampico. "The red carpet has been rolled out for us
in Mexico," while the U.S. government "is threatening us with 10
years imprisonment and $250,000 fines," Hansen said. "The
comparison cannot be more stark."

Caravan organizers are calling on supporters around the country to
put pressure on the government to allow the caravan into Mexico.
Pastors for Peace, the International Peace for Cuba Appeal and
other groups have launched a mailgram campaign. Telegrams are being
sent to Lawrence Eagleburger, Acting Secretary of State, c/o Vicki
Huddleston, coordinator of the Office of Cuban Affairs at the U.S.
State Department, protesting the enforcement of the "immoral U.S.
blockade against Cuba" and urging the government "to allow the
U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment and its cargo to pass into Mexico without
conditions."

Before the State Department intervened, the campaign had been
targeted at Richard Newcomb, director of the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Within 24 hours, Newcomb's office was flooded with calls and
telegrams. Sixteen members of the European Parliament sent a letter
to Richard Newcomb, Nov. 17 protesting any attempt by the U.S.
government to stop the caravan or detain or arrest the drivers.
"The Cuban people, suffering for more than 30 years from the
commercial blockade by the USA, which includes even medicines, food
and all other goods of primary necessity, need this help very
badly," the letter says. "If this is blocked it will be a violation
of fundamental rights of the Cuban people and your own citizens."

U.S. Rep Ron Dellums of California also issued a statement in
support of the caravan. "I know that the supplies and the good will
that you will deliver to the people in Cuba will give them and us
hope that we can live and prosper in peace and support of each
other," he said.

In addition to making phone calls and sending telegrams to the
State Department, supporters of the caravan are asked to
participate in demonstrations Nov. 20, the day the caravan is to
cross the border. There will be a demonstration at the U.S.
Treasury Department in San Francisco at 5 p.m. and at the Federal
Building in San Jose, Calif., at 4:30. For more information, call
International Peace for Cuba at [phone].

A demonstration will also be held Nov. 23 in New York City, across
from the United Nations at the Ralph Bunche Plaza at 5 p.m. The
demonstration is being held to support a resolution to be
introduced by Cuba before the UN General Assembly Nov. 24, calling
for condemnation of the U.S. blockade. For information about the
New York protest call [phone].

As the caravan traveled along nine separate routes through over 90
cities it was greeted with enthusiasm by hundreds of supporters. In
Nashville, Tenn., people attending a support rally set up an
emergency response network to help the caravan, and formed a new
Cuba support group. In Los Angeles, 90 people attended a dinner
prepared by Cuban activists. Along the West Coast route, caravan
participant May Ying Welsh presented her video of Cuba, filmed
during her trip there last spring with the Venceremos Brigade.

Gloria La Riva, a spokesperson for the caravan, said one of the
highlights of the West Coast route was a meeting in Silver City,
N.M. The city is famous as the site of a strike by zinc miners,
documented in the 1952 movie "Salt of the Earth." La Riva said the
caravan was honored by the presence of Virginia Chacon, participant
in the zinc miners' strike whose husband, famed union leader Juan
Chacon, also starred in "Salt of the Earth. The film was banned in
the U.S. for many years.

Chacon and local organizer Luis Quinones presented each of the
caravan drivers with a 40th anniversary commemorative poster of the
strike. Chacon told the drivers, "I wish you all the best in your
journey and I know you'll be victorious."

Jesus Lopez, who has traveled on the route originating in Santa
Cruz, Calif., reported that the caravan "has not gotten one
negative response from people." He said he was very encouraged by
the support the project received.

News media coverage of the Friendshipment has also grown. KPFK, the
Pacifica radio station in Los Angeles, devoted an hour-long show to
the caravan, which drew many people to the caravan meeting. The NBC
radio news affiliate in Phoenix also did a live interview with
caravan participants. CBS and ABC television affiliates conducted
interviews with the drivers.

The Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in the state, did a
front-page story on the caravan. Stories have also appeared in the
Phoenix Gazette, the San Antonio Express and the El Paso Times.


(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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