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A group greets the Venceremos Brigade last year as they crossed the Peace Bridge into Buffalo.
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On July 19, as part of a contingent of the 35th annual Venceremos (We Shall Overcome) Brigade, I crossed the US/Canadian border in a direct action challenging the Bush administration’s travel ban to Cuba. The 78 member contingent ranged from 17 to 74 years old, and the brigade included cultural workers, students, teachers and activists. This year is the second year that the Venceremos Brigade has engaged in a “Travel Challenge�: entering the United States from Cuba (via Canada) and openly declaring that we had visited Cuba in defiance of current US law.
While in Cuba for two weeks, the Venceremos Brigade combined hard work remodeling and rebuilding schools with educational visits to different Cuban institutions, such as the Federation of Cuban Women, Veterans Association, Union of Young Communists, and student and labor organizations. One of the most enjoyable activities that I experienced in the Venceremos Brigade was a hip-hop show we attended in Havana. There is a strong, vibrant hip-hop scene in Cuba. From August 14 through 22 in Havana, the Hermanos Saiz Association (the Cuban youth artist organization) sponsored the 10th International Rap Festival, Havana Hip Hop. The Festival included 30 national groups and 35 foreign bands.
The US enforces a travel ban on Cuba, prohibiting US citizens from visiting the nearby socialist island nation. This is in addition to the ongoing US economic blockade, which bans any business or trade relations with Cuba. Recently, The Bush administration has created and enforced many tough new measures against Cuba, particularly during this pre-election season. The Commission for a “Free� Cuba, headed by Colin Powell, published a 450 page report that details 675 specific policy recommendations to end the Cuban government, create a counter-revolutionary transitional government, and establish a capitalist economic system.
Because of Bush’s harsh new policies, our Travel Challenge this year took on added significance. When it came time to return home, The Venceremos Brigade joined two other US-Cuban solidarity organizations, the African Awareness Association and the US Cuba Labor Exchange, to cross the US/Canadian border. At the same time that we were crossing the border up north, another US-Cuban solidarity organization, called Pastors for Peace, was greeted by 100 extra Homeland Security officers and detained for four hours at the US/Mexico border. Members of the Pastors for Peace delegation had their personal items confiscated. These items included original artwork, clothing and publications.
The Venceremos Brigade members are expecting to receive letters threatening to fine them for traveling to Cuba. Just last week, the assistant secretary of the Treasury, Juan Zarate, informed the press that people who traveled to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade should expect letters from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is the division of the Treasury Department that enforces the travel restrictions to Cuba. Members of the Venceremos Brigade are planning to demand hearings with OFAC to drop any fines and for the right of US citizens to travel to Cuba.
The new restrictions, especially the travel provisions that limit Cuban-Americans to one family visit to Cuba every three years with no exceptions, not even a death in the family, are incredibly controversial. Before these restrictions, family members could visit Cuba once a year, but the Bush administration wants to halt the flow of cash that visiting exiles put into the Cuban economy. Support from Cuban-Americans, especially in Florida, is critical for Bush’s re-election strategy, yet it seems that several of the provisions announced in May, including the severe travel restrictions and a curb on relief packages, are not as popular as the administration had intended.
Many of the people who went to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade are giving “report-backs� to educate others and encourage solidarity efforts in the United States. I have given report-backs in the form of spoken word poetry and performance art in Poughkeepsie, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and Lexington, KY. At report back events we have been showing the film, Gay Cuba, by Louisville, KY filmmaker Sonja de Vries. This documentary looks at what it is like to be gay in Cuba and how it has changed over time since the socialist revolution in 1959. We are passing out informational materials about the Cuban 5 (5 Cuban patriots being unjustly held in US prisons) and getting signatures on petitions to President Bush to free the Cuban 5.
For more information and insight on our mission to Cuba, you can visit our BLOG, an online journal at: greg41039.tripod.com/viva.
If you haven’t heard of the Cuban Five you can visit the website: www.freethefive.org. These courageous Cuban men are imprisoned in the US for defending the Cuban people from malicious terrorist acts.
Leah Rae lives in Lexington. She is a 28 year old writer, poet and performance artist. As an anti-racist activist and organizer her work focuses on building community through the arts.
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Dynamic Magazine
