Area activists extend hand across Cuban embargo

Area activists extend hand across Cuban embargo
Ernst Lamothe Jr. • Staff writer • July 10, 2010

Rochester-area activists participated in the 21st annual Pastors for Peace Friendshipment to Cuba Friday in hopes of making a strong step to end the U.S. embargo in Cuba.

The blockade has outlasted 10 presidents.

Organized by the Rochester Committee on Latin America, the local event took place at a Pittsford home where groups helped pack, label and fill trucks with medical and building supplies.

After packing trucks at various locations nationwide, the supplies will make stops in other cities to gather more contributions and eventually land in McAllen, Texas. The supplies go through Mexican customs and the aid is loaded onto a Cuban freighter and distributed by Cuban churches.

The organization has delivered more than 3,100 tons of aid in the past two decades.

"The blockade is a Cold War remnant that doesn't have any place in 2010," said Lucia Bruno, who is part of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, an ecumenical agency that helps support humanitarian efforts.
"We are not at war with Cuba," Bruno said. "They are not our enemy; they are our neighbor."

This year, 130 cities throughout the United States and Canada are hosting caravan events. Similar aid has been given to Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Dedicated this year to Rochester lawyer Hugh Brantley for his defense of immigrant rights, activists said the situation is too important to watch from the sidelines.

More:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100710/NEWS01/7100329/1002/NEWS/Area-activists-extend-hand-across-Cuban-embargo