A message from Cuba....

Dear Tom,
Muchas Felicidades y Muchas Gracias. Estas son realmente acciones de Amistad y Solidaridad Humana que lo conmueven a uno, pues esa lucha no es una tarea facil. Como cubano estoy muy agradecido y deseo tambien junto a ustedes que este bloqueo injusto que daña al pueblo cubano y especialmente a los sectores mas sensibles, como la salud, la educación, los niños y los viejos debe cesar de inmediato!
Gracias otra vez. Y seguro que venceremos!
Querido Tom, Congratulations and a lot of Thanks. These are truly actions of friendship and human solidarity that touch one very deep since this battle is not an easy one. As a cuban I am really grateful and I am also wishing along with all of you that this nonsense Blockade will be stopped at once since It is a great harm for the most susceptible and innocent people like children and old people and is doing harm to Education and Health of cuban people. Thanks again and again and Venceremos for sure!!
Saludos
Panchito.

Dear Friends,

I recently read of your efforts to bring much needed medical supplies to the people of Cuba, and of the response of the US authorities.

I am impressed and inspired by the work you are doing. The fact that you are soon to pass the Canadian border again with another load shows your extraordinary strength, and it is your unflappable committment that makes you a force unstoppable.

Keep up your wonderful work.

Abajo el bloqueo!

JM

Ireland

 Richard Newcombe
 OFAC, US Treasury Department
 1500 Pennsylvania, NW
 Washington, DC 20221, USA

 Dear Mr. Newcombe,

     It is no wonder that the U.S. was kicked off the United Nation's human rights commission.  How are we to judge Cuba on it's supposed human rights violations when our government stops and seizes medical aid (much of it
baby equipment) that was donated in good will for the people of Cuba.  On the other hand, Cuba shares its limited resources and trains over 5,000 students from countries around the world (including the U.S.) to become doctors
 completely free of charge.  The only requirement made of these students is that they go back to their countries and practice in undeserved communities.
 Amazing!
     Most people who travel to Cuba watch as the lies and myths told to us dissipate and are replaced with admiration and respect.  Besides unraveling the truth, people are profoundly hit with the cruel and senseless effects of
the U.S. blockade on the people of Cuba.  The U.S. policy on Cuba could not be more misguided.  As a person of conscience, I urge you to release the medical aid in Maine and let it go to Cuba.  Let's try a new course of
 action, SOLIDARITY!  Thank you for your time and please do the just thing.

Kindly,

 JR, New Jersey
(U.S. citizen adamantly opposed to the U.S. embargo on Cuba)

 I attach a copy of the letter I have written in protest at the seizure of medical equipment 2.7.01
Well done for all the good work you do
 

Richard Newcombe
OFAC, US Treasury Dept
1500 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC20221, USA

11th August 2001

Dear Richard Newcombe,

I was shocked and dismayed to hear that the US had prevented humanitarian
aid reaching Cuba by confiscating two anaesthesia machines, three new born
resuscitation centre, and angiograph machine, a hospital crib and two exam
tables on July 2nd at the US border.

I urge you to release this medical aid immediately. The US blockade on Cuba
is violent and archaic and contributes to the US reputation as a bully
throughout the world.

Yours sincerely

PW, Coventry Peace House

 appended below is the text of a letter I have sent, under my University letterhead, to the OFAC office in Washington. I hope every little helps and wish you well in your campaign.

 Yours in solidarity,
  SL
 
 

 7 August 2001

 Dear Sir/Madam,

 I am writing to protest at the seizure on July 2nd, in Coburn Gore, Maine, of medical equipment donated to the Let Cuba Live group in Maine, New England.

 I cannot imagine how the US government hopes to build positive relations with the people of Cuba by obstructing the transport of humanitarian aid in this way.

 I have recently participated in the collection and despatch of medical and other material aid for Cuba, on behalf of the Sheffield Association of University Teachers, of which I am a member. We would have been horrified if, after all the goodwill and effort invested in the collection, packing and transportation of this aid, our government had seized it and
 refused to release it.

 I would hope to hear from you that the materials seized were to be released, and that no obstacle will be placed in the way of any subsequent donations of such aid to the people of Cuba.

 The British people have long since acknowledged the legitimacy of the American Revolution against the British government. Indeed, many British people supported the American Revolution at the time. Is it not about time the government of the US acknowledged the legitimacy of the Cuban Revolution, rather than constantly attacking it and those US citizens who already acknowledge it?

 Yours faithfully,
 

 Dr. SL
Department of Politics

Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 11:12 AM
Subject: Letter of support
 

 August 7th 2001

 Open letter to Richard Newcomb -
 Director of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control
 

 We write on behalf of the UK Cuba Solidarity Campaign, an organisation
that has over 3,000 individual members and over 500 organisations affiliated to
 it including 28 national trades unions who represent some 6 million UK
 working people. In addition, we have the support of 40 UK Members of
 Parliament and Members of the European Parliament. Our campaign is pledged
 to oppose your government's policy of blockading Cuba, and to defending
the right of the Cuban people to sovereignty and independence.
 On July 2nd a caravan of humanitarian aid bound for Cuba and organised by
 Pastors for Peace crossed the US border into Mexico. You know Pastors for
 Peace well. They had informed you that they were coming and that they had
 not asked for a licence to take this aid. Your officials did not try to
stop them, indeed they ensured that the crossing was a speedy one. However, a
few hours later, a similar but smaller caravan of aid from the Let Cuba Live
 committee in Maine attempted to cross the border into Quebec. They were
 stopped , important medical aid was seized and two trucks belonging to US
 citizens impounded.
 We write from a country whose government is normally one of your
government's closest allies - yet over Cuba there is a clear disagreement. Since 1995
 the UK government, along with the government of every country in the
 European Union, has voted annually in the United Nations General Assembly
to condemn your government's economic blockade of Cuba. This policy has been
 pursued by both Conservative and Labour governments. Trade and investment
 between the UK and Cuba is now growing steadily. The reality therefore is
 that it is the US not Cuba that is internationally isolated and
discredited.
 We have been informed, as have you, that on August 18th the Let Cuba Live
 committee will return to the US/Canada border at Coburn Gore with a
further caravan of humanitarian aid for Cuba, together with many supporters from
the US and Canada and, we imagine, quite a lot of media.
 We are informing our supporters of this event.
 We urge you to:
 · Release the aid and the vehicles that were seized.
 · Allow it and the further aid to cross the border peacefully on August
18th
 · Abandon your cruel and inane attempts to harass those who seek to travel
 openly to a beautiful Caribbean island or to deliver humanitarian aid to
 their sisters and brothers there.

 Yours,

 Ken Gill, Chairperson
 and Dr Stephen Wilkinson,
 National Coordinator,
 Cuba Solidarity Campaign, UK
 c/o Red Rose Club, 129 Seven Sisters Rd, London N7 7QG
 Tel. 0207 263 6452 Fax. 0207 561 0191
 E.Mail: office@cuba-solidarity.org.uk
 World Wide Web http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk
 

From Cuba Solidarity Campaign:
Manchester Area group
Visit the Manchester CSC HomePage - http://cubasol-manch.org.uk
37 Chandos Rd South, Manchester, M21 0TH

Dear comrades,
the solidarity-group Cuba si Hamburg, Germany will send you best wishes for your activities today. We will declare our protests against the government of the United States and their politic against the solidarity with Cuba and the cuban revolution. We hope that we can break the blocade together with our activities.

With internacional regards

Thomas Möhring, Spooksman Cuba si Hamburg

Fr. Geoff Bottoms.

Message from North East London Cuba Solidarity Campaign to LET CUBA LIVE Support Rally in Portland July 21

Dear friends in Maine and in the US,

We know how hard it is for you in the US to struggle against the insane blockade policy of your government. We see how despite vicious laws and state reprisals, your commitment to this just cause is undiminished. We witness how in spite of threats of imprisonment, fines and confiscations, you continue to commit yourselves to relate to Cuba without awaiting any government say-so.

For four years our group has worked to add our weight to your struggle. For the last two years we have raised money to buy ambulances to drive on the caravan. Three of our members participated in the 12th US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan. Over this time we have got to know the people in Maine's Let Cuba Live and we know that they are motivated by great love and by the conviction that justice will prevail.

We send our vehicles on the caravan with full knowledge that they may be confiscated. And it would be easy for us to send them direct to Cuba with no risk, for there is no blockade from Britain to Cuba.

But by hitching a ride with you, we turn our humble life-saving vehicles into powerful educational tools to demonstrate to the US public how isolated its government is before world opinion, thus giving US citizens more fortitude to struggle for what is right. Then at the border, the ambulances become converted once again into political weapons to smash down the walls of the blockade. For us to be with you in this struggle is not a sacrifice but a privilege.

Each step we take, each mile we travel, brings us closer to victory, for we are convinced we are on the right road and that there is no power on Earth that can stop us. In this fight to get your aid released and on its way to Cuba we pledge our full solidarity.

Venceremos!

Justice shall prevail!

Let Cuba Live - and let its people realise all their dreams.

In full solidarity,

Paul Davidson

On behalf of North East London Cuba Solidarity Campaign and Hackney-Marianao Links
 

PROTEST AT SEIZURE OF AID FOR CUBA BY U.S. FEDERAL AUTHORITIES AND THE ARREST OF MEMBERS OF “PASTORS FOR PEACE”

The Oxford & District TUC (Trade Union Council) is appalled to learn that on Monday 2nd July U.S. Federal Authorities seized two truck-loads of medical aid for Cuba, at a check-point at the U.S./Canadian border, and arrested two members of the aid convoy organised by “Pastors for Peace” and the Maine “Let Cuba Live” group.

We are also angered at the threatening manner in which these peace-loving activists, who pose no threat to the U.S. people and who were merely taking humanitarian aid to a developing country, were dealt with by those authorities.  They were surrounded by 20 car-loads of local police, state police, treasury police and the border patrol, threatening the use of tear gas.

We demand that they be released immediately, their aid donations returned and that they be allowed to continue on their journey without further hindrance.

This resolution will be sent to local Members of parliament and the British Trades Union Congress.

July 4th 2001
Dear President Bush,
On this, your nation's Independence Day, in which you celebrate your forebears' victory over British colonial rule, it is indeed ironic that we, in the UK Cuba Solidarity Campaign, write to protest at the continuing colonialist policy that your government follows toward Cuba, your tiny
neighbour to the South.
It has been brought to our attention that 2 members of the Maine-based organisation Let Cuba Live, in a joint project with Caravane d'Amite Quebec/Cuba, The Quebec/Cuba Friendship Association, and IFCO/Pastors for Peace, were arrested on July 2nd as they attempted to take four trucks, loaded with medical equipment worth a quarter of a million dollars, into
Canada for shipment to Cuba.
The arrests happened when the activists were stopped, two of their trucks were impounded, and when they attempted to carry the aid across the border by hand.
The UK Cuba Solidarity Campaign has over 3,000 members, the affiliation of 28 national trades unions who represent some 6 million UK working people and the support of 40 UK Members of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament.
Our Campaign is pledged to oppose your government's policy of blockading Cuba and to defending the right of the Cuban people to sovereignty and independence.
We say:
1)The medical aid that was confiscated on the Canadian border is urgently-needed and should be allowed to cross the border into Quebec and on to Cuba.
2) The participants and their vehicles should be released.
3) The brutal blockade of Cuba must end.

Yours,
Ken Gill,
Chairperson
and
Dr Stephen Wilkinson,
National Coordinator
Cuba Solidarity Campaign UK
 c/o Red Rose Club, 129 Seven Sisters Rd, London N7 7QG
Tel. 0207 263 6452 Fax. 0207 561 0191
E.Mail: office@cuba-solidarity.org.uk        World Wide Web http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk

Dear friends,

I am secretary of the Cuba Solidarity group here in Liverpool and also the
Chair of my branch of the public service trade union "Unison" at Liverpool
Community College. I write to send solidarity greetings on behalf of both of
these organisations.

When I heard about the arrests of campaigners and the confiscation of aid at
Coburn Gore, I was able to get an emergency resolution condemning the action
of the US Authorities and agreeing that we should send messages of protest
through all channels available to us.

Our solidarity group got out into Liverpool City Centre on Saturday
afternoon, giving out leaflets about the situation and collecting signatures
on a petition. These have now been sent to the US Embassy in London.

We're pleased to hear that the two members of your organisation who were
arrested where not in fact detained in custody as we at first thought,
however we are very angry that the valuable medical aid your group was
carrying is still impounded. We will continue to raise protests here until
the aid is released.

Best wishes with all your activities,

Brenda Lee

Subject: Some words of respect for your organization. Viva Cuba!
 

Hi, I don't think I'm much good to you being a 17 year old high school student from a very small city in Ontario, Canada. I read an indymedia news post about the border crossings, and the harassment you guys faced. I am an avid supporter of many various political and humanitarian causes and I just wanted to give you my support and utmost respect for the efforts your organization has taken to put this matter in the forefront and bring a great awareness from such a modest group. I think if the american people understand that cubans are human beings and choose not to accept the false stereotype that the cuban people are just island folk from the Caribbean that their government says should be denied basic human necessities citing an aging 40 year old excuse then a change will come. Ignorance has reigned supreme and I am deeply impressed with the steps you have taken to convey "people before politics!".
Hasta la Victoria Siempre

JH

 Dear Ones, July 10,2001

 This is a follow - up of the US Customs' (US Treasury Dept's Office of
 Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)) the 1st week of July, 2001, at the
 checkpoint in Coburn Gore, Maine with Canada, seizing and impoundment of
 2 trucks and a trailer containing 2 valuable anesthesia machines, EKG
 machines, defibrillators and other medical equipment being sent to Cuba
 by Let Cuba Live in conjunction with the 12th Pastors for Peace, US Cuba
 Friendshipment, challenging the US embargo of Cuba. We denounce this
 seizure and call for the immediate release of these vehicles and their
 contents. (At the same time 75 tons+ bound for Cuba via Mexico were
 allowed to pass by US Customs in Texas.).

 We urge you to contact YOUR Congress people (May be different from the
 ones below.) and support our appeal. This morning I visited FL
 Congressman Dan Miller's Bradenton office (941-747-9081) with this
 protest and wrote a report about the unjust seizure. I also phoned FL
 Senators Bill Nelson (813-225-7040) and Bob Graham (813-228-2476) for
 release of this humanitarian aid and ultimately, end the embargo against
 Cuba. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT NOW!

 Sincerely,

 Rev. DT

COPY OF LETTER SENT TO PRESIDENT G.W. BUSH ON JULY 9

President Bush:

As you know, US Customs have impounded two trucks loaded with valuable anaesthesiology machines and other medical donations on their way to Cuba via Canada in a border standoff which has not yet been resolved.

This is totally unacceptable. It is outrageous that medical aid to people in need be stopped bureaucratic instances.

Please stop the harassment of the groups giving this humanitary aid.
End the blockade of Cuba.

Sincerely,
AS
Jönköping
Sweden

The Oxfordshire Health branch of UNISON, (the largest public sector union in
Europe) is appalled to learn that on Monday 2nd July U.S. Federal
Authorities seized two truck-loads of medical aid for Cuba, at a check-point
at the U.S./Canadian border, and arrested two members of the aid convoy
organised by “Pastors for Peace” and the Maine “Let Cuba Live” group.

We are also angered at the threatening manner in which these peace-loving
activists, who pose no threat to the U.S. people and who were merely taking
humanitarian aid to a developing country, were dealt with by those
authorities.  They were surrounded by 20 car-loads of local police, state
police, treasury police and the border patrol, threatening the use of tear
gas.

We demand that they be released immediately, their aid donations returned
and that they be allowed to continue on their journey without further
hindrance.

This resolution will be sent to local Members of Parliament and the the
UNISON region and national organisation.

U.S. CUSTOMS SEIZES CUBA MEDICAL AID AT MAINE BORDER,

MAINE ACTIVISTS VOW TO FIGHT FOR ITS RELEASE

CUBA VIVE OF TAMPA BAY DENOUNCES SEIZURE

Cuba Vive of Tampa Bay strongly denounces the impoundment and seizure by U.S. Customs officials of two trucks and a trailer containing two valuable anesthesia machines, EKG machines, defibrillators, and other medical equipment being sent to Cuba by Let Cuba Live, a grassroots Maine-based organization working to change U.S. Cuba policy. The medical aid shipment was being sent to Cuba in coordination with the 12th Pastors for Peace US-Cuba Friendshipment, a national project that has been taking aid to Cuba and challenging the embargo since 1992.

This year's challenge to send donated medical aid to Cuba by way of Montreal, Quebec was organized by Let Cuba Live, together with the Caravane d'Amite Quebec/Cuba, the Quebec Cuba Friendship Association, and IFCO/Pastors for Peace. The Let Cuba Live shipment was seized at the Maine border, while the other Pastors for Peace US-Cuba Friendshipment caravan routes converged in Texas. U.S. officials allowed the main part of the caravan to cross the Mexican border without incident, and 75 tons of aid bound for Cuba was taken to the port of Tampico, where it is being shipped to Cuba on a Cuban freighter.

Let Cuba Live's medical cargo is now in the custody of U.S. Customs officials at the US/Canadian border checkpoint in Coburn Gore, Maine, after Customs officers presented an official letter to Let Cuba Live, stating that the aid impounded yesterday by US Customs is now officially seized.

Cuba Vive supports Let Cuba Live of Maine in its campaign to gain the release of their vehicles and medical aid. Cuba Vive of Tampa Bay calls on the U.S. Government to release the aid destined for Cuba, and we call upon all U.S. citizens and residents to loudly and emphatically reject this latest manifestation of the ongoing policy of diplomatic hostility and economic warfare against the people of Cuba.

Several tons of aid were shipped from Florida on this year's caravan, and a semi-trailer from Pastors for Peace made stops in Sarasota and West Tampa's McFarlane Park on June 19th and 20th, picking up aid for Cuba. That shipment, including over a hundred networks computers destined for the Latin American School of Medical Sciences, is now on board the Cuban freighter in Tampico. Cuba Vive has been supporting the Cuba Friendshipments since 1996, and together with the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice helped to collect funds in 1999 to purchase a large diesel school bus that was filled with medical aid and donated to Cuba from the people of Florida.

Pastors for Peace and their supporters have declared that the Cuba Friendshipment caravans will continue until the immoral and illegal embargo against Cuba is ended, no matter what actions U.S. officials decide to take against Cuba activists.

Although all federal offices (OFAC, Treasury, Congress, etc.) will be closed for the July 4 holiday, the Let Cuba Live activists are organizing and planning for actions that will challenge the seizure. The story about the aid seizure is getting extensive newspaper and radio coverage in Maine and Quebec, and media interest across the US is growing.

Cuba Vive calls upon Congress and the Bush Administration to release the seized vehicles and medical equipment, to end the trade embargo and travel restrictions, and to normalize relations with Cuba.

-end-

We nine Europeans participants have been travelling through Canada, the US and Mexico for over two weeks carrying
over 75 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines, solar panels and bicycles, all destined for Cuba. This cargo presents
no security threat to the U.S. but is a precious gift of life for the people of Cuba.

We have been constantly aware of the chance that this cargo could be seized at the border, especially given the right-wing
anti-Cuba credentials of the new U.S. President George W. Bush.

Whilst the aid we were carrying was allowed to pass freely, we are appalled and shocked by the cowardly and arbitrary
actions of US Federal officials at the border with Canada. Over 20 car loads of U.S. police, state police, sheriff's
department, treasury police and border patrol - and threats of teargas - provided the backdrop to the confiscation of two
trucks of donated medical aid organised by the LET CUBA LIVE group in Maine, U.S.A. and Pastors for Peace.

Rather than attacking the main body of the caravan, U.S officials have assaulted a small group at a remote checkpoint in
the hope that this action would go unnoticed. We have to give an answer to this.

We, European participants, urge you now to:

1. Fax the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on (code) 202 622 0077 and the US Embassy in your own
country demanding that the aid be released.

2. Contact your member of parliament/representative to press for their intervention on our behalf to let the aid go through.

3. Spead the word. The more who take the above actions, the sooner the aid will reach Cuba. IT WILL GET THERE!!

4. Send an email message of support to ifco/Pastors for Peace at ifco@igc.org and ask to be included in their emergency
reponse network to receive updates and calls to action.
 

WE DEMAND THAT HUMANITARIAN AID DESTINED FOR CUBA BE FREE TO CROSS INTERNATIONAL
BORDERS
 

WE DEMAND AN END TO THE GENOCIDAL U.S. BLOCKADE OF CUBA
 

Signed;
Torbjorn Bjorkman (Sweden)
Sabine Caspar (Germany)
Dirk Ewers (Germany)
Daniel Werges (England)
Paul Davidson (England)
Simon Watson (England)
Tamara Davidson (England)
Andrew Marzolini (England)
John Waller (England)
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