[HCCN] reminder: CUBA event Blue Hill July 2

Wed Jun 30 17:10:27 UTC 2010

REMINDER
People to People, a film about Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba,  
will be shown Friday July 2, 7:00 p.m. at Blue Hill Library,  
sponsored by Peninsula Peace & Justice and Let Cuba Live.
Those wanting to support the caravan efforts can do so in the  
following ways:
1.     Come to the film, bring a friend, bring donations for the  
caravan (suggestions are new or used Hand tools, Paint brushes, Work  
gloves)

2.     Make a financial donation to support the cost of the vehicles  
and fuel for traveling across country to Mexico (checks can be made  
to IFCO)

3.     Make a phone call or write a letter to Senator Collins,  
Senator Snowe, Rep. Michael Michaud stating that you support freedom  
to travel and an end to the blockade and that you support the 2010  
Pastors Caravan that includes participants from Maine

This weekend all donations for the caravan will be transported to  
Southern  Maine for packing, then on to Massachusetts to be loaded  
onto caravan school buses. So far we have donations of tools and  
medical supplies for elder care (from Deer Isle). Every item is  
valued and appreciated by the Cuban distribution committee, as the  
film will attest.
The evening’s discussion will focus on the IMPORTANCE OF CUBA, US  
Cuba policy and the unique and direct strategy for change posed by  
the caravans. Past and current caravan travelers will be on hand to  
talk about their experiences. Cuban-style refrescos will be served.  
All are welcome.

A press release follows:

                                          ******PRESS  
RELEASE******         6/28

   Four Mainers will be traveling to Cuba this Summer with the 2010  
US / Cuba Friendshipment  Caravan. Peter and Judy Robbins of  
Sedgwick,  Alissa Leonard of Oxford Hills and Jesse Cottingham of   
Otisfield. All will all be joining the Caravan in McAllen, Texas on  
July 17.

    Every year since 1992 Pastors for Peace, a New York city based  
organization,  has been sending significant quantities of  
humanitarian aid to Cuba in direct violation of U.S. law. These  
shipments are carried out as an act of peaceful civil disobedience, a  
challenge to the legality and morality of the US blockade of Cuba.   
In the words of the organizations founder the Reverend Lucius Walker.  
"We do not believe the US government has the right to interfere with  
humanitarian aid shipments, we will refuse to apply for a permit, if  
we are offered one we will not accept it".

    This years shipment will begin over the 4th of July weekend.   
"Caravanistas" or drivers from cities across  Northern United States  
and Canada will participate in local send off celebrations and hit  
the road, headed south, driving box trucks, school busses, pickups  
and vans loaded with humanitarian aid. There will be 13 North to  
South routes connecting with 130 cities throughout the US. At each  
stop Carvanistas will be hosted by Cuba solidarity groups and  
churches. It will be a cross country whirlwind of long days on the  
road,  pot luck dinners and festivities at night and most  
importantly, numerous press conferences that have been arranged in  
advance to allow the Caravanistas  opportunity to share with as many  
Americans as possible their motivation for undertaking this  
adventure . Additional aid laden vehicles will join the caravan at  
many of the stops. Tom Whitney of Norway, Maine, will be traveling  
with the East Coast contingent as a featured speaker on US / Cuba  
relations.
    In past years shipments have focused on bicycles, medical  
supplies, school supplies, computers and supplies for elder care.  
This year construction tools are the primary focus of the shipment.  
Cuba has recently been swept by several devastating hurricanes and  
there is much home construction and reconstruction to be done. There  
are many skilled and willing hands to do the work but just not enough  
basic tools to go around.

   On July 18 all of the routes will converge on the Texas / Mexican  
border in  McAllen, Texas for a 3 day orientation program.  
Carvanistas will discuss the history of US / Cuba relations, their 10  
day program in Cuba and life and culture in Cuba. There will also be  
strategy sessions for getting the aid safely through US Customs,  
across the border and into Mexico. Most of the recent crossings have  
been detained but released by US Customs but Caravanistas still  
receive training in peaceful civil disobedience because several of  
the early crossings were contentious.

    Once the Caravan is across the border they will be hosted by the  
Mexican Cuba Solidarity Group "Va Por Cuba" and begin a day and a  
half drive down Mexico's East Coast to the port city of Tampico where  
the aid, including some of the vehicles, will be hoisted aboard a  
freighter. The Caravanistas will park their empty trucks and board a  
plane for the flight to Havana where they will begin a 10 day program  
that will include visits to hospitals, cooperatives, schools, labor  
unions, women's organizations, cultural centers and churches. When  
they return from their trip the Caravanistas will be prepared to  
share some of what they've learned about Cuba by holding public  
"report backs" and talking with students, church groups and other  
interested groups and organizations

   Let Cuba Live is a Maine based Cuba solidarity group that has  
worked closely with Pastors for Peace on all of these shipments. Over  
the years the group has sent ambulances, school busses and thousands  
of pounds of humanitarian aid to Cuba. The group believes in person  
to person diplomacy and to that end, has sought out and helped dozens  
of  young people participate in a first time Cuba experience.  
According to Barbara West from Arrowsic, a founding member of Let  
Cuba Live , "we're hopeful that the people we send will  interact  
with the Cuban people and learn from them and in turn, share  
something of their own lives. In this way they become our unofficial  
ambassadors".

The Mainers who are traveling to Cuba this year do so for a variety  
of reasons.

Peter and Judy Robbins from Sedgwick are old hands who have been on  
many of these caravans. According to Peter, "Though the streets of  
Havana may suggest otherwise, Cuba "is not your father's Oldsmobile".  
Despite decades of an unneighborly and punishing US blockade and the  
unprecedented ravages of recent hurricanes, Cuba continues to  
creatively address many of the world's injustices. It is a  
revolutionary project envisioning a future; not locked in the past."

Alissa Leonard from Oxford Hills is participating in this years  
caravan so she can visit the Latin American School of Medicine. A six  
year medical program is open to US citizens who qualify. The school  
is free. All students must be committed to working in a poor or  
underserved area upon return to their home country. There is no debt  
to pay off, so working for lower income is realistic. With medical  
students here in the US graduating, on average, with $200,000 in debt  
Alissia says, "I had to check it out", at nineteen years old she  
says, "it's the chance of a lifetime", she has always enjoyed helping  
others and has been interested in the medical field but never thought  
a medical degree would be possible because of the cost.

Jesse Cottingham from Otisfield is a first  time Cuba traveler who  
said, "I am really excited to travel to Cuba. In particular I am  
interested in what the Cuban people have learned about sustainable  
living and the importance of community."

For more information go to letcubalive.org and <http:// 
WWW.IFCONEWS.ORG>WWW.IFCONEWS.ORG.

For questions in regard to this press release please reply or call  
207-691-0322 - Steve Burke

For additional information or clarification please contact any of the  
individuals mentioned in this release.

Peter and Judy Robbins of Sedgwick - judy at robbinsandrobbins.com,  
peter at robbinsandrobbins.com - 207 - 326-4405
Alissa Leonard of  Oxford Hills - alissa3991 at hotmail.com
Jesse Cottingham of Otisfield - gnomehomes at gmail.com
Tom Whitney of Norway - atwhit at roadrunner.com - 207-743-2183
Barbara West  from Arrowsic - barbaraw at myfairpoint.net - 207-443-2899

Attached photos :
Alissa and Jesse packing a box of tools for the shipment.
Peter Robbins (far left with beard) at the border in McAllen, Texas  
in 2008. Reverend Lucius Walker director of Pastors for Peace is  
second from far right (wearing wrist watch)

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