Pastors for Peace 2013 Caravan to Cuba

The new streamlined no-bus caravan started with send-off events in spoke and hub cities.  Needless to say, Fresno was a spoke.

Fresno Event July 12

Songs by amazing Merlinda Espinoza, with Sue Kern singing along on this one.

San Francisco was a hub city.  We flew from there to Mexico D.F., and then to Havana.

At the Martin Luther King Center in Havana

The Cuban Revolution started with the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953.  
The celebration of the 60th anniversary is on July 26.

 Antonio Maceo y Grajales was a leader in the Cuban independence movement.  He was a brilliant guerrilla general and a clear thinker.  The aims of the Mambi struggle were Cuban independence and the abolition of slavery in Cuba.  It is interesting but futile to speculate on how US history would be different if the objectives of independence and the abolition of slavery had been linked.

 Juan Almeida Bosque was one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution.
His words, "Aqui nadie se rinde," are the motto of Santiago; it was posted, among other places in the expresso bar where we drank coffee.

 The trees of Santiago and the surrounding area were very badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy.  This is a reforestation project.

 Foreign students from the medical school in Santiago.  Their education is free.  They will go home to their countries to serve the underserved - a euphemism for poor people.  There are many students from the US at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, studying on full scholarship, with the same understanding.

 It's not always easy to keep those well-known old cars running.

 Getting ready for July 26

 Many homemade signs on the houses and streets.

HURRICANE SANDY

 Hurricane damage has been repaired at speed but there's a lot of damage still visible.  The City Model Building, which was itself badly damaged, has an exhibit of photos from just after Sandy.  The destruction was immense and the clean-up and restoration efforts remarkable. The sign on the door of the photo above is a building permit.

New housing in the flatlands of the city.  This was completed since the hurricane; residents have  already moved in.  We did a little foundation digging for what will be similar new apartments.

This outdoor gym is mostly for senior citizens but all ages are welcome.

 Santiago street scene.

 Back at the church where we stayed: Free Evangelical Lutheran Church on Yarayo near the corner of Patricio Lumumba.

CARNAVAL IN SANTIAGO BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANTIAGO.

kids

big people

neighborhood organizations

beauties

This banner is about recycling.

This banner says "Santiago arises and the Cuban 5 will return."

We were invited to an agriculture cooperative. After explaining how it worked, the coop members invited us to a very good party.   The state buys what is produced, which avoids the problems of distribution and marketing which make small farming so difficult in the US.

We head back to Havana, with a stop
in Camaguey for a great meal.

THIS IS LUIS; HIS BUS HAD A VERY SUDDEN BLOWOUT BUT HE WAS ABLE TO BRING THE BUS SAFELY TO A STOP.

The hard job of changing this huge tire.

Bill Hill, frustrated because they won't let him help.

 Waiting in the shade of the bus.

 Trying to shade the drivers.

We made it back to Havana, where the always wonderfully kind and caring Martin Luther King Center kitchen staff stayed up to give us "breakfast" before we went to the airport at 2AM.

WHAT THERE ARE NO PICTURES OF AND WHY:

The concert, at which a new work by Leo Brouwer, Elegia y Furia, had its first performance. Too dark.

The 26th of July 60th Anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution.  The heads of state of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Uruguay, as well as from Trinidad-Tobago, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Sta. Lucia, Antigue & Barbudo, and Dominica all spoke about the effect that Cuba has had on the hemisphere.  They said many things but a common theme was,  "Cuba taught us not to be afraid."   Too excited.

The construction work - digging the foundations.  Hands too dirty.

The Museum of the Clandestine Struggle.  Photos not allowed.