Cuba’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ana Silvia Rodríguez, stated that the Pastors for Peace solidarity caravan this year is of great relevance, since it is taking place during a difficult period for relations between Cuba and the United States, amidst escalating U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

According to Prensa Latina, the work of Caravan participants is sending a clear message to the United States and the rest of the world, challenging the hostile policies of the current administration, the Cuban diplomat said during a solidarity event held in New York.

Anti-Cuban leaders have learned nothing over these years of resistance, she added, our people will not surrender to pressure or threats. Now Washington is tightening the siege of Cuba, increasing aggressive measures, re-activating the Helms-Burton Act’s Title III, for example.

Restrictions on travel to the island have been increased, “Perhaps they are afraid that the U.S. people will learn the true reality of my country,” the ambassador observed.

Since 1992, when the Pastors for Peace Caravans began, Caravan organizers and participants have faced the harassment of the different U.S. administrations and forces hostile to the normalization of relations between the two countries. Caravan activists have overcome thousands of obstacles, making great sacrifices to deliver solidarity support to Cuba, recalled Rodríguez, Cuba’s alternate permanent representative to the United Nations.

The executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization-Pastors for Peace, Gail Walker, noted that the solidarity work they do allows them to debunk misinformation and lies spread by the Donald Trump administration.

The Caravan’s travels around the continental U.S. are taking place early in June this year, rescheduled to better meet their goals since the Venceremos Brigade organized by U.S. and Puerto Rican activists will be in Cuba to commemorate its 50th anniversary in July, she reported.

The travel license system imposed by the White House is meant to “control what we do, where we go (…), so we will travel without a license, love is our only license,” Walker insisted.

“Ours is a labor of love toward our friends in Cuba, reflecting our commitment to the cause of ending the blockade,” she concluded.

In addition to bringing solidarity aid to Cuba, the Pastors for Peace caravans, under the guidance of the unforgettable Reverend Lucius Walker, was founded with the objective of challenging the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, which the U.S. has maintained for almost 60 years.

A visit to Villa Clara in the island’s central region is planned to honor the heroic guerilla Ernesto Che Guevara; converse with workers, combatants, religious groups, and Committees for the Defense of the Revolution; participate in voluntary work; and hear updates on current events in Cuba and relations with the United States.

Participants also brought a symbolic donation of first aid medications to the nation.

Reverend Luis Barrios, Caravan coordinator told Granma International, that the group conducted a tour of more than 50 U.S. cities which began in the month of April, with the purpose of informing residents of the damage caused by the criminal economic, commercial, financial blockade, which is still very much in place.

In meetings held along the route, also discussed were restrictive measures denying U.S. citizens the right to travel to Cuba as tourists, as well as the construction of Cuba’s socialist society and gains made in education and health care.

Barrios, also a professor of Psychology, Criminology, and Latino-Latin American Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice-CUNY, in New York City, added that the main purpose of the talks was to debunk distortions of Cuba’s reality commonly disseminated in the mainstream U.S. press.

In the first phase of solidarity work, Barrios continued, visits to Congress members were organized. He noted that presentations were made under pressure and facing certain risks, because participants felt harassed by those who oppose their work, but we understand the importance of building awareness, he said.

In his opinion, the Trump administration’s actions have led to a greater mobilization of social movements against neoliberal policies, and many are being radicalized in the struggle, seeing that the society needs a structural change to assure a future for younger generations, adding, “There is a reawakening of people in the streets. We need more than this. Demonstrations and protests are not enough, we need to create a grassroots project that leads to a revolution.”

Reverend Barrios reported that the Caravans will continue and, if there is a setback in bilateral relations, they will continue to cross the border carrying boxes of humanitarian donations for the Cuban people, and challenge the U.S. government in its own territory.

Agreeing with Reverend Barrios is Gail Walker, executive director of Pastors for Peace, who noted that the intention of participants this year is to send Trump a message, that they came to Cuba to challenge the travel restrictions which they denounced throughout their U.S. tour over several months.

Walker, the daughter of the group’s deceased founder Lucius Walker, said that this visit is also commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Caravan, and 50th of IFCO, and is of special significance because of the many memories the group has of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, who died this past November 25, and whose legacy of struggle for a better world they are committed to upholding.

“Our main objective,” she said, “is educating people about the Cuba issue, breaking the information blockade. We talk about the educational system in Cuba. We talk about the role of churches and freedom of religion.”

She reported that the group includes both young people and older adults. Half of the participants this year are making their first trip to Cuba, while others are returning. No one sought a license from the U.S. Treasury Department to visit the island, and all are motivated by a desire to express solidarity with the Cuban people, in accordance with the group’s slogan this year, “Now is the time,” to end the blockade, the illegal occupation of Cuban territory in Guantánamo, and media campaigns against the Revolution.

A similar point of view was expressed by Isaac Guazo Estrada, the young pastor of Mexico City’s Methodist Church, who said, “I came to learn about the history of the Cuban people, who have struggled to move forward, and mainly about the legacy of their leaders. This helps us understand our national reality and set goals to resolve our difficulties.”

Reverend Guazo believes the social situation in Mexico is critical, with gang assassinations, drug trafficking, and the government allowing impunity. This, he said, was what awakened his interest in joining Pastors for Peace in Cuba, to learn about a society that is eliminating these social ills.

Likewise Elia Silva Hernández, member of the Francisco Villa Independent Left organization, described the help provided by Mexican members of the Caravan during the segment of the group’s trip through their country, when they take advantage of the opportunity to talk with the population about Cuba.

Members of the Francisco Villa group are involved in struggles for housing in Mexico, where many lack homes. Silva explained, “During this struggle, we have also become aware of the need for public services for all, like education, health, and security.

“The example of Cuba is useful to us because the goal of our organization is to improve living conditions, and construct dignified spaces for all. The great dream is to build socialism in my country,” she added.

(Granma)

Until the last moment of his life, Reverend Lucius Walker, the founder of Pastors for Peace, dedicated great part of his energies to repairing the injustice of his government. In many interviews, he repeated that his objective was also to win hearts and minds in the United States in favor of the Cuban people. And shortly before passing away in September of 2010, he made votes for President Barack Obama to fulfill his election campaign promises and reestablish relations with Cuba.

He could have hardly imagined that only within a few years time his dreams became a reality, but with Obama still in the White House, the Pastors would face a serious threat to their status as a non-profit organization. It is a terrible blow to those who when it wasn’t politically correct to talk about the blockade as a major failure, demonstrated that not all the US had an imperial soul.

In order to better understand Pastors for Peace’s situation, Cubadebate has talked via chat with Gail Walker, Lucius’ daughter and Executive Director of the organization.

Not even Bush dared to attack Pastors for Peace for the work with Cuba. Why is the Obama Administration doing this now?

This is a very good question. Yes, it does seem that the decision of the IRS to take away our non-profit status because of our work with Cuba makes no sense. On December 17, 2014 President Barack Obama joined Cuban President Raul Castro in announcing plans to begin working toward normalization between Cuba and the US. And, after almost 90 years, the first sitting US president not only traveled to Cuba but also stated that US policy toward Cuba has failed. On more than one occasion President Obama has called for the blockade (he uses the term “embargo”) to be lifted.

For these reasons, it would seem that the work of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, which for nearly a quarter of a century has organized Friendshipment Caravans as an expression of love and solidarity with the Cuban people and opposition to the blockade, would be respected by the President, given his desire to end the “embargo”.

But in reality despite the new focus on Cuba from all sectors in the United States, not all this attention has benefited Cuba or its friends. At the end of the day we recognize that in the US there is still a campaign to undermine Cuba and its revolutionary principles. IFCO/Pastors for Peace has always embraced the commitment of Cuba’s leadership to put the well-being of its people first. That’s why we continue to stand in solidarity with Cuba and why we continue to call on the US government to end its efforts to achieve “regime change” in Cuba.

Under what legal status has IFCO worked until now?

Since it was organized in 1967 IFCO – the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization – has been a non-profit organization. This means it has been recognized by the US government as an organization that raises money or performs deeds for a specific cause or set of causes. For IFCO (the parent organization of Pastors for Peace) these causes have been associated with a myriad of issues related to racial, social, and economic justice in the United States and other parts of the world.

Through our Pastors for Peace project, IFCO has organized dozens of caravans of humanitarian aid to various places in Central America and the Caribbean including Cuba – all aimed at helping to highlight the destructive impact of US foreign policy in those countries. Additionally, IFCO works to support various domestic issues – progressive causes across the United States ranging from educating about the prison industrial complex and the need for immigration reform, to highlighting environmental concerns and the need for food sustainability.

And finally IFCO supports the work of more than two dozen small projects – tackling issues from political prisoners, to the training of young community organizers. IFCO serves as a fiscal sponsor for these projects. As fiscally-sponsored projects they are under the umbrella of IFCO and benefit for our tax exempt status.

What does it mean for a non profit to not pay taxes?

As a non-profit IFCO does not pay taxes on income it raises from donations and grants it receives. Also most people who make donations to IFCO receive tax benefits for making donations to non-profit groups. This helps to advance the progressive causes that IFCO supports and encourages people to make donations to charitable programs.

In a larger sense the government’s effort to punish IFCO is an effort to restrict not only our financial support, but the solidarity of social-justice minded people who want to support programs aimed at building a better world. It is easy for the government to collect taxes from US citizens for things like war. But restricting the work of groups like IFCO will make it more difficult for individuals to support programs aimed at making progressive social change.

In what way will the IRS attack on Pastors for Peace have an impact on the work of the organization?

There are several ways that IFCO will be impacted if the IRS succeeds in taking away our tax exempt status:
1) IFCO may be liable for taxes on income it collects from donors. As an organization that does not aim to make profit but to do social justice work, this could have a detrimental economic impact on IFCO’s budget and our ability to survive as an organization
2) Some donors may reduce their financial gifts or stop making donations all together if they are not able to receive tax benefits from the government
3) Our fiscally-sponsored projects will be forced to find a different sponsor – one that has its non-profit status intact. For most of the projects IFCO supports, our sponsorship has offered a progressive life-line – allowing groups to do their important social justice work with the help of an organization that has a long history of work for social justice and community development.

How can we help Pastors For Peace face this attack from Obama´s administration?

We are asking our supporters to do a number of things: sign onto an online petition at: < https://www.change.org/p/do-not-remove-ifco-pastors-for-peace-non-profit-tax-status>

This petition directs a message to President Barack Obama, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen and a dozen members of Congress who have maintained a progressive point of view in regards to Cuba and who have expressed support for improved relations with Cuba. It is our hope that having a large number of people sign the petition will keep the IRS’ senseless attack on IFCO/Pastors for Peace on the desk of these critical lawmakers – many who have already called for lifting the US blockade on Cuba.

Our friends can also reach out and contact their own members of Congress to ask them to contact the IRS and demand that they halt this attack on IFCO, one of the nation’s oldest civil and human rights organizations run by people of color. This is important because members of Congress need to hear from their own constituents before they will act.

We are also asking friends – including individuals and members of diverse groups that have worked with IFCO/Pastors for Peace over the years on countless social justice related issues, faith-based partners, community-based organizations, those in the labor movement, educators, and those who have travelled with us to Cuba through caravans and delegation, whether based in the US or anywhere across the globe – to issue messages of support.

It’s important for the IRS and the Obama Administration to understand that our base of support is wide and extends beyond the borders of the US.

For nearly 50 years IFCO’s has focused attention on both domestic and international issues. In addition to our projects in Cuba, IFCO has worked to highlight civil and human rights, education, housing, and health care; women’s rights, farmworkers’ rights, Native Americans’ rights; sterilization abuse, grand jury abuse; we have fought to resist the violence of the Ku Klux Klan and we have supported liberation struggles around the world.
This is why we believe that an attack on IFCO is an attack on all of us who work for social justice.
This is why we have asked our friends and family to join us in declaring:
#WeAreAll IFCO. #WeAreAllPastorsForPeace.

Will Pastors for Peace continue their solidarity with the people of Cuba and Palestine?

Absolutely!!

No matter what punishment the US government imposes on us, we will stand with those who suffer oppression.

Today, nearly 50 years since IFCO was founded, we continue to stand by the words of our mission statement:

To assist the disenfranchised and struggle against human and civil rights injustices.

To continue to support all people who struggle for justice – “until justice rolls down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream”. (Amos 5.24)

This is our continuing commitment to our family;
Some of whom are living,
many of whom have passed away,
and most of whom are yet unborn…

(By Rosa Miriam Elizalde)

Gabriela Juárez, Executive Secretary of the U.S. Ecclesiastical Observatory, told reporters in Mexico City that during their 24-hour stay, the caravanistas carried out activities demanding the lifting of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, and the return to Cuba of the territory illegally occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo.

Since 1992 IFCO/Pastors for Peace has organized annual friendshipment caravans to Cuba as an active non-violent civil disobedience action to protest Washington’s nearly six-decades old blockade policy towards Cuba. The caravanistas bring in humanitarian aid for the Cuban people.

About the caravans, the founder of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, the late U.S. Reverend Lucius Walker, repeatedly said: “We act not just in defiance of our government, but in obedience to our conscience.”

(Radio Habana Cuba)