Caravan Reaches US - Mexico Border for Return Challenge!

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PASTORS FOR PEACE RETURNS TO U.S. FROM CUBA FOR REVERSE BORDER CHALLENGE!

On the morning of August 1st 2011, participants in the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba will return to the U.S. from Cuba, via the Mexico/U.S. Border. In the reverse challenge, they will openly declare that they have broken the trade and travel ban on Cuba, by traveling to Cuba without a license, and delivering 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. Caravanistas, holding banners and flags, will march to the border, loudly chanting “Love is our license to travel to Cuba!” and “Cuba si, bloqueo no!” In this reverse challenge, they face interrogation and searches.

The 100 tons of aid included medications and medical supplies, computers, portable solar panels, school supplies, construction tools and equipment, along with seven school buses and a car that were donated to Cuba. When the caravan entered Mexico from the U.S. on the way to Cuba on July 20th, the aid was x-rayed and seven computers were seized by US Customs, an act met with protest from the caravan participants and supporters. The computers were to be donated to Cuban hospitals, schools, and a veterinary clinic. Pastors for Peace expects these computers to be returned and will make sure they get to Cuba – their intended destination.

The reverse challenge of the Caravan to Cuba coincides with another Cuba travel challenge returning to the U.S. The Venceremos Brigade will also be returning to the US on August 1, via Canada, and another large travel challenge group will be returning to Puerto Rico on that day.
Caravan participants were able to see the island of Cuba for themselves through an educational and cultural program. This year's caravan was dedicated to celebrating and honoring the achievements of Cuba's young people, and the program of the Caravan in Cuba highlighted their daily lives and experiences, as well as visits to organic gardens, health centers, urban and rural communities and schools.

“In Cuba we experienced a kind of love that is based on a friendship that transcends borders, blockades and foreign policies. Love is what broke this criminal and inhumane blockade for the 22ndtime. Love never quits,” stated IFCO board president Rev. Thomas E. Smith.

This year's caravan was also a tribute to the life and spirit of Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., the founding director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, who for 20 years gave prophetic and visionary leadership to our caravans to Cuba in defiance of the US blockade. Rev. Walker died peacefully in September 2010.
The Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which has been working for racial, social, and economic justice since 1967.

www.ifconews.org

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