The former general secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland, Mr Michael O'Riordan (80), will accompany an aid shipment to Cuba later this month. Mr O'Riordan, who was a member of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War 60 years ago, will join the "US Pastors for Peace 8th Friendshipment Caravan" in Mexico, where it arrives from the United States on July 20th. It will then proceed to Cuba and is scheduled to arrive by July 23rd.
Mr O'Riordan will be accompanied by just one other Irish person, Ms Bernie Dwyer, chairwoman of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign - Ireland.
The caravan will be the eighth to Cuba organised by the pastors and will bring tons of food and medical aid to churches, hospitals, and grassroots organisations. It will be distributed through a Christian ecumenical body.
The first such shipment was in November 1992. Since then, related fund-raising events have been organised in over 150 US cities, involving the major churches, 70 members of Congress and hundreds of thousands of supporters. On one occasion the pastors succeeded in "freeing" 400 medical computers intended for use in Cuba as part of an island-wide health information network, but which had been seized by the US government.
Attempts by the US government to block previous caravans were met by a 23-day hunger strike by the pastors and their supporters and a 94-day "fast for life".
The pastors have also always refused to accept US government regulations that they must comply with US licensing regulations for exports to Cuba. Despite these regulations, all previous seven caravans got through.
Among those in Ireland supporting this year's caravan "as an act of non-violent civil disobedience" which "will send a strong message to the US government that it is time to stop using food and medicine as weapons of war against Cuba", are Father Austin Flannery OP and the Rev Terence McCaughey of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. They are among the Irish Friends of US Pastors for Peace 8th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba.
Other Irish Friends are Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, Dean Victor Griffin, Father Sean Healy SJ, Sister Brigid Reynolds, Father Brendan Forde, Father Peter McVerry SJ, and Father Michael O'Sullivan.
They have appealed to the Irish people to support the caravan, and sponsor Mr O'Riordan and Ms Dwyer.
Contributors may send money to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign account at the Ulster Bank in Dublin Airport, account number 82759043.
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