wfn.org | U.S. embargo bars church's Cuban ex-employees from taking their

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

Note #5997 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

pensions
26-June-2000
GA00051

	U.S. embargo bars church's Cuban ex-employees from taking their pensions

	by Edmund Doogue

LONG BEACH, June 26–The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s General Assembly
Council and Board of Pensions may soon be ordered to put pressure on the
United States government to allow the payment of pensions owed to between 25
and 40 former employees of the church in Cuba and their survivors.

	Jean Hemphill, counsel to the Board of Pensions, told the Assembly
Committee on Global Mission and International Issues that even though the
Cubans need the money, which is  being held for them in blocked bank
accounts in Philadelphia, the funds cannot be not be sent to them because of
the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

	"This is something the Board of Pensions feels deeply about," said
Hemphill, who explained that the people concerned had worked decades ago for
the church in Cuba, which up to the time of the 1959 revolution was part of
the synod of New Jersey.  The ex-employees concerned were still in Cuba and
they or their survivors were now eligible for pensions, but were prevented
from obtaining them because of the U.S. embargo.

	"They have a right to the money, but they can't get it," she said. The
accounts, which have earned passbook interest for decades, "have accumulated
a fair amount of money", which, she added, is badly needed by the people
concerned.

	She told the Assembly news service after the debate that $750 a month could
be paid to a
relative in the U.S. or $300 a quarter could be sent to Cuba. But as there
were now banking arrangements between the U.S. and Cuba, it was very
expensive to find ways to send the money to Cuba. She added that some
families were also entitled to death benefit.

	The Committee approved a recommendation which, if accepted by the Assembly
later this week, will urge the Board of Pensions and the General Assembly
Council to seek a license from the U.S. government to pay the benefits owed
to the former employees of the church in Cuba.
Nelson Davila, a leading official of the Presbyterian Reformed Church in
Cuba, told the Committee that despite the media focus on Elian Gonzalez and
Fidel Castro, there were many other important issues in Cuba which should
interest them.

	"The first thing Americans ask me is, ‘Do you have churches in Cuba'?"
Davila said.

	"All our churches are full. We have youth and children coming to our
churches. People are looking to churches for values," he said. "I want to
use a Greek word, ‘kairos', which means ‘new times', to describe the
churches in Cuba. This is a new time for us."

	The committee also commended ongoing partnerships between U.S. Presbyterian
agencies and  the churches in Cuba, and urged the PC (USA) and its members
to continue efforts to end the U.S. embargo and restore diplomatic relations
with Cuba as recommended by previous assemblies.

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