"Return the Humanitarian Aid- Allow it to Continue to Cuba!"
PASTORS FOR PEACE TO HOLD PRAYER VIGIL FOR AID AT INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE
Calls for Coordinated International Actions to Begin on Wednesday
The Pastors For Peace Cuba Caravan will hold a Prayer Vigil On Wednesday, July 27, at 4:30 p.m, nearly one week after the Dept. of Commerce's seizure of a portion of its humanitarian aid for Cuba. The Vigil, which will call on the aid to be released and sent on to Cuba, will be held on the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge between the U.S. and Mexico. The Pastors for Peace delegation will be joined by supporters from both sides of the border, including Amigos de Cuba and The Center for Border Studies and Human Rights in Mexico. Local churches, solidarity groups and individuals from McAllen, Reynosa and the surrounding communities are encouraged to participate.
WE NEED YOU!!
Please join us at the border, or organize your own solidarity vigil/rally in your own community. Actions ideally will take place every Wednesday until the aid is released. It is also imperative that supporters continue calling their congressional representatives and the Commerce Department in order to demand that the aid be released, the Caravan be allowed to proceed to Cuba, and that the United States no longer prohibit this or any other humanitarian aid from reaching communities in need. With your help our presence is being felt, and we must keep the pressure on.
On Thursday July 21st, US Customs and Border Patrol officers, acting on instructions from the US Department of Commerce, seized 43 boxes of computer equipment from the 16th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba-- toner, cables, calculators, modems, keyboards, 2 printers, and a dozen computers -- equipment intended for Cuban children with special needs, hospitals, and schools. While most of the 150 member caravan was eventually able to cross the border early Friday morning with almost 140 tons of humanitarian aid, the struggle to free the detained aid is far from over. A group of seven caravanistas have remained on the U.S./Mexico border in Hidalgo, Texas to build an international campaign to free the computer equipment for delivery to Cuba. We Need Your Help!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
• Organize a solidarity prayer vigil on Wednesday, July 27
• Call your congressional representative and your senators (202-225-3121); urge them to personally call Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce and insist that he let the computers go!
• Call Michael D. Turner, Director of Export Enforcement for the Department of Commerce and insist that the computers be released. 202.482.1208, Ext. 3
• Call Wendy Wysong, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, for Export Enforcement, and insist that the computers be released and allowed to continue to Cuba. 202.482.3618
• Ask your church or congregation to sign on to our Pastoral Letter in support of releasing the aid and allowing it to continue on to Cuba.
• Hold a Rally at the Federal Building in your town to demand the release of the computers.
For details and more information, call Rev. Lucius Walker at 646.319.5902/5904