wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Committee urges end to Cuba embargo

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7727 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Committee urges end to Cuba embargo
GA03037

Committee urges end to Cuba embargo

by Nancy D. Borst

DENVER, May 26 - The General Assembly Committee on Global Ministries heard an
impassioned plea Monday from the moderator of the Presbyterian Reformed
Church in Cuba for better relations between her country and the United
States.

	The committee responded to the appeal from the Rev. Dora Arce
Valentin by unanimously approving Overture 03-24, reaffirming the church's
call "for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the restoration of
diplomatic relations" between the two countries.

	Valentin, speaking through an interpreter, pleaded for the
committee's help, contending that the "lock between the two peoples is
reality." She reminded the commissioners that the world does not belong to
any one nation, but to God. The committee members responded with a standing
ovation.

	The most important consequence of the strained relations between the
two nations is that the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Board of Pensions is
unable to pay benefits owed to retired pastors and teachers in Cuba. U.S.
regulations allow payment of only a small portion of the owed benefits.

	The committee removed from the overture the call for a "restoration
of normal diplomatic relations" between Cuba and the United States, to make
it less political and less likely to spark opposition.
	
	The committee approved other overtures that would: oppose Free Trade
Area of the Americas legislation; call for the creation of a "list of
resources" on the Middle East; urge action to prevent migrant-worker deaths
along the U.S.-Mexico border; and recommend U.S. ratification of the
international Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, which seek
to safeguard the environment, in part by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

	The committee also approved a General Assembly Council recommendation
to send a delegation to the Middle East in response to an invitation from the
Synod of Syria and Lebanon, long-time PC(USA) partners. The purpose of the
trip would be to correct impressions in the region that the U.S. war on Iraq
is essentially a war against the Muslim world.

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