wfn.org | U.S.-Cuba Caravans

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (489
notes).

Note 488 by UMNS on Dec. 3, 1997 at 15:52 Eastern (4866 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom							  676(10-71B){488}
		New York (212) 870-3803					Dec. 3, 1997

EDITORS: This article may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #675 (478).

IFCO's U.S.-Cuban caravans
challenge economic blockade

	NEW YORK (UMNS) -- One of the important projects of the Interreligious
Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace is its
U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravans.
	That's the opinion of the Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, an IFCO board member
and staff executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
	But he's also concerned about what he considers the U.S. government's
attempts to interfere with that work through the issuing of a grand jury
subpoena.
	The Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO's executive director, agreed that the subpoena
is "a violation of our constitutional rights and a form of harassment. It's
really a witch hunt."
	IFCO's board of directors cannot discuss details of the subpoena  -- first
issued in February 1996, and recently renewed -- because of a gag order. But
the Rev. Schuyler Rhodes, pastor of Washington Square United Methodist Church
here and the board's chairperson, noted that "members of the board feel the
grand jury is being used to intimidate and derail the work."
	The caravan project began in 1992, at the request of Cuban clergy, as a way
to challenge the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba. Over the past five years,
seven caravans have delivered more than 1,500 tons of aid there.
	"The work that Pastors for Peace is doing is very important because it's
confronting the inconsistency of U.S. foreign policy on Cuba," Acevedo-Delgado
said.
	Some groups, such as the National Council of Churches, have gone through the
process of securing a U.S. Treasury Department license to ship humanitarian
aid to Cuba. But IFCO/Pastors for Peace has rejected that process because it
signals compliance with the blockade.
	As a recent IFCO newsletter stated, "To send simple aid to our Cuban brothers
and sisters, we shouldn't have to ask permission of 
their enemy."
	In February 1996, after U.S. Treasury agents seized 300 donated computers
from a Pastors for Peace caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border, Walker and four
others staged a hunger strike.
	The fast -- which began in San Diego and moved to the grounds of the United
Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., that April -- ended after 94 days with
the release of the computers.
# # # 

CONTACT: Linda Bloom							  676(10-71B){488}
		New York (212) 870-3803					Dec. 3, 1997

EDITORS: This article may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #675 (478).

IFCO's U.S.-Cuban caravans
challenge economic blockade

	NEW YORK (UMNS) -- One of the important projects of the Interreligious
Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace is its
U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravans.
	That's the opinion of the Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, an IFCO board member
and staff executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
	But he's also concerned about what he considers the U.S. government's
attempts to interfere with that work through the issuing of a grand jury
subpoena.
	The Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO's executive director, agreed that the subpoena
is "a violation of our constitutional rights and a form of harassment. It's
really a witch hunt."
	IFCO's board of directors cannot discuss details of the subpoena  -- first
issued in February 1996, and recently renewed -- because of a gag order. But
the Rev. Schuyler Rhodes, pastor of Washington Square United Methodist Church
here and the board's chairperson, noted that "members of the board feel the
grand jury is being used to intimidate and derail the work."
	The caravan project began in 1992, at the request of Cuban clergy, as a way
to challenge the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba. Over the past five years,
seven caravans have delivered more than 1,500 tons of aid there.
	"The work that Pastors for Peace is doing is very important because it's
confronting the inconsistency of U.S. foreign policy on Cuba," Acevedo-Delgado
said.
	Some groups, such as the National Council of Churches, have gone through the
process of securing a U.S. Treasury Department license to ship humanitarian
aid to Cuba. But IFCO/Pastors for Peace has rejected that process because it
signals compliance with the blockade.
	As a recent IFCO newsletter stated, "To send simple aid to our Cuban brothers
and sisters, we shouldn't have to ask permission of 
their enemy."
	In February 1996, after U.S. Treasury agents seized 300 donated computers
from a Pastors for Peace caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border, Walker and four
others staged a hunger strike.
	The fast -- which began in San Diego and moved to the grounds of the United
Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., that April -- ended after 94 days with
the release of the computers.
# # # 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------