20th Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan
Mary Ann Jones, 30.06.2009 00:00
The 20th Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan, taking US citizens and humanitarian aid on a journey of solidarity and goodwill, will arrive in the Rogue Valley on Thursday July 9. Join us in welcoming them at the Bellview Grange, 1050 Tolman Creek Road, Ashland. The schedule is:
6:00--greet the Caravan members
6:30--potluck dinner--share your favorite dish
7:30--program about the Caravan--what it does and why
9:00--close and clean-up
This year the Caravan will visit more than 130 US and Canadian cities, challenging the US government to end the blockade against Cuba which has lasted almost 50 years, and asking for a foreign policy based on mutual respect between our two countries. Up to 150 people will travel to Cuba with construction, medical, school and other supplies collected from groups across the US, refusing US Treasury Department licenses, as a collective challenge to the blockade and travel ban. The website is 
http://www.pastorsforpeace.org.
Bike parts and supplies for the Caravan to take are being gathered locally. As Pastors for Peace accomplishes big projects on a shoestring budget, we must pay a minimum of $450 to send aid for Cuba with the Caravan. Contributions large and small are needed! Please make tax-deductible checks out to Peace House, and write Pastors for Peace on the memo line. (Do NOT write the word Cuba on your check!) Mail to Peace House, PO Box 524, Ashland, to be received by July 7.
For questions, call Mary Ann at 482-8915 or Suzia at 482-0102. The Caravan's local event is sponsored by Peace House, Southern Oregon Greens, and KSKQ 94.9 FM. Tune in to the Brain Labor Report on this station for an interview with the Caravan spokesperson at 7 am on Friday July 10.
Our government uses licensing to maintain control over the flow of aid for its own political purposes, and tries to control which US organizations can send aid to Cuba. While allowing a few licenses, but denying commercial trade, the US prevents Cuba's access to the volume of commodities essential to meet the needs of the country. For example, the US refuses to sell to Cuba construction materials badly needed for repairing the damage of the three hurricanes which hit Cuba last fall.
US government control of churches' right to give aid to those in need violates the separation of church and state, guaranteed under the First Amendment. Similarly, US journalists have protested that the government has no right to require licenses of US news agencies going to Cuba.
