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Caravan delivering aid to Cuba rolls through Carbondale Thursday morning
A truck traveling across the Midwest collecting humanitarian aid for Cuba made a stop at the Newman Catholic Student Center Thursday morning.
The U.S./Cuba Friendshipment Caravan is attempting to collect millions of dollars worth of medicine, computers and medical equipment to ease Cubans' struggles as a result of the United States' blockade to the country.
The charitable organization, which is organized by Pastors for Peace, plans to drive all the goods to Mexico, where they will be taken by freight to Cuba. The trip south of the border is necessary because the caravan is trying to deliver aid to Cuba without a U.S. Treasury license - which is against federal law.
Caravan organizer and participant Kathryn Hall said she and her supporters do not fear the possibility of being apprehended by the U.S. government at the border. She said the long trip is a "win-win situation."
"If we get the stuff to Cuba, that's wonderful," Hall said. "If we have a confrontation with the United States government, that's wonderful, too. That will increase the awareness of the American public of the absurdity of this blockade and what's going on."
Hall shared her explanation with more than 20 people at the Newman Center Wednesday night.
She is the founding member of the Center for Community Health & Well-Being Inc., a Sacramento-based holistic health and social service agency. Hall said she originally set up the agency to combat the high mortality rate of African-American infants in America. She said that rate is the highest of any developed country in the world and higher than six developing countries, including Cuba.
Cuba's lower mortality rate for black infants prompted Hall to take an interest in the country. Upon further investigation, she discovered the American blockade that she had known about for years was doing more damage to Cuba than she realized. While visiting the country, Hall said she saw a serious lack of medical supplies and building supplies.
Hall said the United States' blockade of person-to-person exchanges in Cuba is more of a domestic issue than a foreign issue. She said she believes the interests of Cuban descendants in Florida have been treated poorly as a result of the government's blockade.
"About three weeks ago on CNN, I heard leaders of the Cuban community in Florida saying to Bush, 'We put you in office. We are the reason you are in office. If you do not do what we tell you to do, you will not be reelected,'" Hall said. " I think that's a very powerful statement. Bush doesn't know what he's getting into."
Hall said she also treats her involvement in the caravan as a way to better serve medical care in Cuba and the United States. She said her health agency was a group of midwives that could not afford to hire a doctor. The doctors that the agency would train would be stuck with medical school bills in the United States.
However, future doctors can receive free medical school training in Cuba. Hall said this benefits both sides as Cuba receives the extra medical care it needs and American doctors can save money.
Hall said the caravan's efforts during the past few years have definitely made an impression. She said the group is closer to ending the blockade than most people realize.
"Every year as more and more people find out about the troubles of the blockade and left-ear legislators know more about it, the more support we're getting," Hall said. "It's just one of those things that's always been there and people just didn't pay attention to."
Hall said she urges more Americans, and people across the world, to pay more attention to the effects of the blockade. If they do, she said, they will see the truth.
"We actually deny medicine and food and the basic necessities of life to a whole island of 11 million people who have never done anything to us," Hall said. "Why are we doing this? What do we expect to come out of it? If we're that mad with Fidel Castro, why would we starve those people?
"People will ask those questions once they know the facts."
