authorities
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 19, 2007
HAVANA: A U.S. humanitarian group delivered about 80 metric tons (90
tons) of aid to Cuba on Thursday, defying Washington's 45-year-old trade
embargo.
Some 140 Pastors for Peace volunteers drove across the Texas border to
Mexico, and then flew to Havana with computers and medical supplies,
including X-ray machines, walkers and surgical gowns.
The group, making its 18th annual pilgrimage to Cuba, said it was held
up at two U.S. border crossings while returning from Canada with
donations, but completed the journey with "99.5 percent" of the aid it
hoped to bring, said the Rev. Luis Barrios, pastor of San Romero de Las
Americas, a non-denominational church in New York City.
Barrios said U.S. authorities seized 12 computers, but did not take the
monitors for those machines.
"We've arrived at the conclusion that that was symbolic," Barrios said.
"The United States, although it doesn't recognize it publicly, in terms
of the blockade, has morally lost."
Barrios said U.S. officials were friendly, and even made a point of
confiscating the oldest computers while allowing new laptops through.
"They had to take something from us to say they had taken something," he
said.
State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said she had no comment.
Dressed in blue and white T-shirts emblazoned with "U.S.-Cuba Caravan,"
the New York-based group also included volunteers from Mexico, Canada,
Great Britain and Germany.
The embargo prohibits U.S. tourists from visiting Cuba and chokes off
nearly all trade between both countries. Those who flaunt American
travel restrictions can face thousands of dollars (euros) in fines and
even jail time.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/20/news/CB-GEN-Cuba-Caravan.php
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