The U.S. blockade of Cuba causes shortages of food, medicine and other important supplies for eleven million people. The blockade is an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons. The purpose of the blockade is to restore a puppet regime that promises to once again make Cuba safe for exploitation by the same corporations that are busy busting unions and closing plants in this country.

In 1895 the Cuban people began a revolution against Spain in an attempt to forge an independent nation. The Cuban fight for freedom was initially supported by the labor movement in the U.S. Even after the mysterious sinking of the battleship Maine in 1898, labor journals sought to calm the growing war hysteria. "The Craftsman", the official organ of the Connecticut AFL, wrote:

"A gigantic ... and cunningly-devised scheme is being worked ostensibly to place the United States in the front rank as a naval and military power. The real reason is that the capitalists will have the whole thing and, when any workingmen dare to ask for the living wage ... they will be shot down like dogs in the street."

But U.S. companies already had substantial investments in plantations, railroads, mining, and other industries. A Cuban victory was likely to interfere with U.S. plans for continued exploitation, so the U.S. government intervened, replacing Spanish colonial imperialism with a military occupation. The U.S. Army left only after the Cuban Constitution incorporated a clause giving the U.S. the right to intervene whenever its interests, i.e. corporate profits, were threatened.

Then in 1959 the unthinkable happened when a charismatic guerrilla named Fidel Castro led a revolt against the puppet regime of Fulgencio Batista. Once in power, Castro moved to set up a nationwide system of education, housing, and land distribution to peasants. The government confiscated over a million acres of land from three American companies. The Cuban people believed that being born on the land, working the land, and dying on the land was a stronger claim to ownership than a piece of paper issued by a foreign power.

The U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF), attempting to bring the Cubans to heel, refused to lend money unless Cuba accepted a harsh program of "stabilization". Thumbing its collective nose at the IMF, Cuba instead signed a trade agreement with the Soviet Union, who agreed to trade crude oil for sugar. Predictably enough, the American-owned oil refineries refused to refine Soviet oil, leaving the Cuban government no choice but to seize those assets as well. After a CIA-led invasion of Cuba failed in 1961, the U.S. imposed an economic blockade and travel restrictions which persist to this day.

Let Cuba Live, a Maine-based Cuba solidarity group, was organized nine years ago to end the blockade of Cuba. Working with Pastors For Peace, they have organized shipments of humanitarian aid to Cuba. Let Cuba Live has refused to apply for government permission to make donations to the Cuban people, believing that to do so would imply acceptance of the blockade. The shipments are delivered to Cuba via Mexico or Canada, neither of which hinder the shipments in any way.

In 1992 five people were arrested at the border in Laredo, Texas where customs officials attempted to stop the shipment of 15 tons of medical supplies, bicycles, school supplies, and bibles. The following year U.S. Customs siezed a school bus destined for a Cuban church. After a 23 day hunger strike, the bus was released and ultimately delivered to Cuba. The "Friendshipment" of 1996 required a 94 day fast to force customs officials to allow a large shipment of computers to leave the U.S. Today those computers are part of INFOMED-CUBA, a medical information project that supports the health system throughout the country.

Since 1997 Customs officials have allowed the shipments to continue without interference, preferring to avoid the adverse publicity that always accompanies confiscations, arrests, and hunger strikes.

All that changed on July 2, 2001.

While Pastors for Peace was delivering a shipment across the Texas border without interference, Let Cuba Live supporters were attempting to deliver aid donated by hospitals, doctors, and nurses across the border crossing at Coburn Gore, Maine. This time, instead of ignoring the activists, overzealous customs officials attempted to detain the medical aid. The activists, easily outnumbering the guardians of the tiny frontier outpost, carried many boxes across the border by hand and delivered them into the outstretched arms of Caravane d'Amitie Quebec, a Quebec solidarity organization. Federal officials scuffled with dangerous grandmothers while desperately waiting for backup from county and state police.

Two trucks and a trailer, loaded with heavy equipment which included anesthesia machines, newborn incubators, and hospital cribs, were seized. A few days later, the medical aid, being a clear threat to the national security of the United States, was unloaded from the seized vehicles by a private firm and moved to a commercial storage facility, the location of which remains Top Secret.

In response to the new "zero tolerance" policy of the Bush Administration, Let Cuba Live has sent out a national call for support and solidarity, asking for people to attend a rally in Portland, Maine on July 21. Let Cuba Live has also announced  a return to Coburn Gore in a few weeks with another shipment of medical aid for Cuba.

The rally was attended by approximately 100 people, a small airplane towing a banner over downtown Portland, and one policeman on horseback. Speakers included the Reverend Lucius Walker of Pastors for Peace, Ken Carstens, an anti-apartheid activist from South Africa, and Avi Chomsky, a professor of Latin American studies and a long time Cuba researcher. Rally supporters included Veterans for Peace, the Raging Grannies, members of the community, and the usual suspects of the radical element in Maine.

Monument Square, the site of the rally, is a small plaza in the belly of Portland's financial district. Consisting of a large granite pedestal topped with a bronze statue of a Roman warrior, it is a monument to militarism and the U.S. government's policy of foreign domination. Chants of "Let Cuba Live" echoed throughout the quiet streets, startling pigeons and weekend tourists. Following the speeches, music, and a moment of silence for the dead and injured protesters in Genoa, Italy, the rally supporters marched to the U.S. Customs House and decorated the building with signs demanding an end to forty years of hostility and attacks on the Cuban people.

The IWW Norembega Branch passed a resolution supporting the efforts of Let Cuba Live and endorsed participation in the July 21 rally. Seven Wobblies (members of the IWW) attended the rally, including Ethan Miller, who performed a selection of songs for the event. A large red IWW banner, made by Wobblies in New Hampshire, was on proud display and was much admired by video and still cameras alike.

The rally closed with cries of, "We'll be back!", a reference to Let Cuba Live's determination to continue to deliver aid to the Cuban people, regardless of the response of the U.S. government.

Reference: A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn