• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 07 / 16 / 2011

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Saturday, July 16, 2011, 2:36 AM. By Mark R. Kent, Press-Register. MOBILE, Alabama -- Two busloads of travelers stopped in Mobile Thursday on their way to Cuba, a destination they must first leave the United States to reach.

Members of the 22nd Pastors for Peace Friendshipment came to the family center of Mount Hebron Baptist Church in Trinity Gardens and spent time pleading their group’s case for normalizing U.S. relations with Cuba.

A near-total economic embargo by the U.S. against Cuba — commonly referred to in Spanish-speaking countries as "el bloqueo," or the blockade — has been in effect since October 1960, about a year after Fidel Castro and the Communist Party took control of the island nation.

The Rev. Thomas E. Smith of Pittsburgh has been chairman of the board for Pastors for Peace, and the 2011 trip is his 14th.

"Our mission is to minister to people and communities adversely affected by U.S. foreign policy," Smith said. He said traveling groups, with more than 100 people in all, are converging on McAllen, Texas, for a crossing into Reynosa, Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday.

From Reynosa, he said, the group will go to Tampico, Mexico, where vehicles and supplies will be loaded onto a ship and participants will fly to Cuba.

The trips taken over the years by his group are what he described as "civil disobedience" against the U.S. embargo.

On this trip, Smith said, the group will donate to the Cubans 2 cars, 7 school buses and about 100 tons of aid, mostly in the form of medical, building and plumbing supplies.

Smith’s traveling companions come from varied backgrounds. Murray Fulcher of Toronto, a Unitarian, is making his 7th trip, while Manolo de los Santos of New York City is making his 5th.

"Unitarians have always been involved in humanitarian causes," Fulcher said.

During the group’s travels, "we are constantly asking citizens to contact local officials to let them know what you think of the blockade," de los Santos said. He is a recent graduate of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Mary McGinnis, representing Mobile’s chapter of the League of Women Voters, wasn’t making the trip, but she came to offer support.

"The League passed a resolution supporting normalization at its convention in June 2010 in Atlanta," McGinnis said.

The group will spend Friday through July 30 in Cuba, before returning to the U.S. Aug. 1.


Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2011/07/group_travling_to_cuba_to_prom.html