Re: US citizens Cuba trip

[bellagio]

Just read this article and wondered if it made the TV news and if anyone has any updates on the situation:
 
  US citizens Cuba trip

[bmnichol]

That's what happens when you live in a country run by a dictator. You don't have the freedom to come and go as you please. I thought their motto was something like "the home of the free and the land of the brave." They might have to change that to the "home of the free (as long as you only go where we tell you you can) and the home of the brave"  :(

[bellagio]

Another story related to the recent Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba, this from the pages of Radio Holguin:
 
 Pastors for Peace Caravan Harassed on Their Return from Cuba
 
 Havana, Cuba/ CAN.- After being harassed by US authorities at the Mexican border, the 17th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan, which recently delivered 60 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba, crossed back into the United States via Hidalgo, Texas this week.
 
 Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) / Pastors for Peace executive director, Reverend Lucius Walker, Jr., told reporters in Texas "The motto of our 17th caravan has been Cuba is our neighbor: End the blockade now."
 
 "We are called by our faith to resist any law that could keep us from fulfilling our biblical mandate to love our neighbor," added Rev. Walker.
 
 Members of the 17th Friendshipment Caravan remained upbeat when interrogated and searched by more than 75 Homeland Security and Treasury officials.
 
 The process took five hours, including attempts at interrogation and hand searches of personal luggage.
 
 IFCO/Pastors for Peace said that International members of the caravan from Canada and Europe received the highest level of harassment. They were isolated and interrogated in a back room, and were threatened with denial of reentry into the US if they failed to fully cooperate.
 
 Meanwhile, an aggressive Cuban-American, plain-dressed agent in charge of overseeing enforcement of Cuba sanctions repeatedly refused to identify herself or the US agency she works for. She took photographs, asked hostile questions, and spent 20 minutes rifling through the papers in Rev. Walker's briefcase.
 
 "Today's 'welcome home' ceremony by our government is yet another desperate attempt by a failing empire to try to defend an indefensible policy," said Rev. Walker. "It is shameful that they continue to cater to extremist interests in South Florida, in order just to win a few votes."
 
 Last year, more than 100 participants in recent Pastors for Peace caravan's to Cuba received letters from the US government threatening them with fines for traveling to Cuba. "We don't know what is waiting for us this time," said Father Luis Barrios, a member of the IFCO board of directors. "But we refuse to be frightened from carrying out our mission of humanitarian aid and solidarity," he added.
 
 Radio Angulo Digital 20/07/06