U.S. Customs seizes some, but
Caravan takes medical equipment to Cuba
Plans to bring back Cuban products in 'reverse
challenge'
By Teresa
Gutierrez
The 12th U.S. Cuba Friendshipment Caravan made its way
into Cuba early in July. But all did not go without a
hitch.
U.S. Customs agents in Maine seized and impounded nearly
$250,000 of medical equipment as it was being transported
across the Canadian border by the Maine-based Let Cuba Live
Coalition and the Canada-based Cuba Friendship Association.
The two groups had worked together to raise material aid for
Cuba.
U.S. Customs officials stopped the Friendshipment and
confiscated the material at the remote Coburn Gore border
checkpoint in Maine. They are holding two trucks, a trailer,
and an assortment of valuable medical equipment--including
two anesthesia machines, electro-cardiogram machines, cardiac
defibrillators and other heavy hospital equipment.
As of this writing, the struggle is still at a standoff.
Customs has not released the aid, and the activists from Let
Cuba Live are determined to stay until the equipment is
released for shipment to Cuba. The activists' spirits are
strong, said Steve Burke of the coalition. "We're in this for
the long haul," he declared.
As other sections of the Caravan made their way across 100
cities in the U.S., through Mexico and into Cuba,
Friendshipment brought the message that the U.S. blockade of
Cuba must be ended. It got news coverage in many U.S. cities
as well as around the world. Reuters and the Associated
Press, for example, carried the news of the arrival of the
caravan in Cuba.
According to IFCO/Pastors for Peace, the confrontation at
the remote Maine crossing involved 30 law enforcement
officers and 40 activists. That was in contrast to the lack
of U.S. government confrontation at the U.S.-Mexico border
when the Caravan crossed from Hidalgo, Texas, into Reynosa,
Mexico, earlier the same week with 95 caravanistas, nine
vehicles and 75 tons of aid.
The Reuters wire reported that the 12th Friendshipment
would also be carrying out a reverse challenge this year by
bringing aid from Cuba into the U.S.
"We want to inform the world that we are doing a reverse
challenge for the first time in history, taking aid from Cuba
by way of our caravan to the people of the United States,''
said IFCO/Pastors for Peace Executive Director Rev. Lucius
Walker.
Walker said the Caravan planned to bring back Cuban solar
panels and a biological rat killer called Biorat made by the
Cuban biotechnology firm Labiofam. "There is a rat problem in
the United States in addition to the one in the White
House,'' he said.
As part of their program in Cuba, the Caravanistas will
visit the Labiofam factory where Biorat is produced. This
species-specific rodenticide kills only rats and mice. It is
environmentally friendly, safe to use around humans, pets and
foodstuffs, and is used throughout the world. Caravanistas
will be given samples of Biorat to take back to the United
States for use in rat-infested communities here. New York
City, for example, was estimated to be the home of 28 million
rats in 1997.
The Caravan is stressing that this rodenticide is an
example of how the U.S. blockade denies the people in this
country access to important goods that are produced only in
Cuba.
The Let Cuba Live Coalition and Pastors for Peace are
urging supporters to contact the U.S. Treasury Department and
demand that the aid be released. Activists should call
Richard Newcomb, the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets
Control at (202) 622-2500.
On July 21 the Let Cuba Live Coalition will hold a rally
to continue the struggle to get the aid released. The event
will be held at 12 noon at Monument Square in Portland,
Maine, and will march to the Customs Building. For more
information, readers can call Pastors for Peace at (212)
926-5757 or the International Action Center at (212)
633-6646.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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