US
(2009-07-13)
COLUMBIA, MO
(KBIA) -
A busload of people determined to bring aid to Cuba is stopping in Columbia Tuesday night. Pastors for Peace has organized 60 caravans to Latin American countries over the last 20 years, to places such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Associate director Ellen Bernstein says the group is a ministry for those who have been victims of the United States' foreign policy. She says they'll deliver aid to Cuba and bring attention to US-Cuban relations. "We care about protesting the US economic blockade of Cuba and we are trying to spread that message as we travel through 140 cities before we come together in Texas."
Pastors for Peace members will then enter Cuba via Mexico. It's the 20th time they've done so. The US enforces a 40 year trade embargo with the island nation and also restricts travel. President Barrack Obama recently lifted that restriction for Cuban-Americans who want to visit their homeland. There is "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" in Congress right now.
Bernstein says their caravan is a way for more people to talk about Cuba and the US relations.
"What we want to do is meet people in the community, share stories that we know about Cuba, encourage them to hear some different perspectives from what they might have heard in the past."
The Pastors for Peace potluck and presentation is tonight at First Baptist Church.
For more information, visit http://www.pastorsforpeace.org/
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