Venceremos Brigade

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In a few days, we will travel with the Venceremos Brigade to Cuba. The Venceremos ("We Shall Overcome") Brigade is an educational work project that began in 1969 and has traveled to Cuba every year since then. For two weeks we will work side by side with Cuban workers to rehab public buildings such as health clinics. During this time we will also find out as much as we can about life in Cuba by meeting and exchanging with civic leaders and ordinary people.

Last month, the Bush Administration announced a series of draconian restrictions and punishments for traveling to Cuba without a “license”. These restrictions virtually eliminate the constitutional right of Americans to see Cuba for themselves, including for educational purposes. College and university study programs have been eliminated. For Cuban Americans, even the right to visit family has been restricted to once every three years, with no exceptions for family emergencies. For the first time in history, court hearings are being held in order to inflict fines on U.S. citizens for “unlicensed” travel. In June, the Bush Administration announced a criminal prosecution of people who simply organized a sailboat race which included a stop in Cuba. Part of Bush’s “War on Terrorism” includes the use of millions of taxpayer dollars for regularly interrogating and harassing Cuba travelers for no reason.

We oppose any and all restrictions on our right to travel to Cuba. We oppose the Bush Administration’s warlike actions towards Cuba and its relentless pursuit of “regime change” in Cuba – a country where people have free health care and education, where they do not suffer homelessness and hunger and where racism is actively combated, and whose largest export to the poor countries of the world is medical assistance. We support the Cuban people’s sovereign right to have the social system of their choosing--and we want to learn more about it.

Cuba is not our enemy and we hope to develop friendships with as many Cuban people as we can during our stay. We are young and older; African-American, Latino, Asian and white; gay and straight; students from high schools and colleges; and workers and professional people from all across our country. We have many political points of view, but we are united in opposing the travel ban and the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba. We do not ask for a U.S. Treasury Department license to travel to Cuba to view the country, its people, its successes and its challenges with our own eyes. We believe that the US policy towards Cuba is deceitful, in violation of international law, and harmful to the interests of our people and the Cuban people.

On Monday morning, July 19 at 8:30AM we will cross the International Peace Bridge into Buffalo, New York, proudly proclaiming our return from Cuba. We ask for your support:

1. MEET US IN FORT ERIE, CANADA ON JULY 19 at 8:30AM! If you have traveled to Cuba before - licensed or unlicensed - and/or want to protest these restrictions, meet us on the Canadian side of the International Peace Bridge in Fort Erie on Monday morning July 19 at 8:30AM to join our march across the bridge to US Customs and Immigrations in Buffalo. Walk with us across the Bridge, enlarging our numbers and making our statement more massive.
   
   
2. MEET US IN BUFFALO, N.Y. ON JULY 19 at 8:30AM! Meet and greet us on the Buffalo side of the International Peace Bridge on Monday morning July 19 at 8:30AM after we have gone through Customs and Immigrations, where there will be a rally and press conference organized by supporters in Buffalo.
   
   
3. SUPPORT AN END TO THE TRAVEL BAN! Call your House Representatives, your Senators and the White House to tell them that you want an end to the Travel Ban.

For more information, read our Press Release or contact us.