Cuba 1995: Pastors for Peace

 

Pastors for Peace: “Let Us See What Love Can Do”

 

In 1988, Lucius Walker, a Baptist Minister, led a delegation to Nicaragua to check out the civil war going on there. On August 2, a Contra bomb  (the US backed side of the civil war) exploded in his boat, wounding 29 and killing two. While recuperating, he pondered his response, settling on the notion of bringing medical and educational supplies to a Cuba strangled by the US economic embargo of 1963. “Pastors for Peace” (Pastores por la Paz) became the name of this organization. At the time of his death in 2010, there had been 21 caravans of medical/educational supplies from various US cities to Cuba. Walker was always adamant that the US embargo was illegal and that all caravans would ignore any US sanctions on their way to Cuba through Mexico. Travel to Cuba by US citizens was illegal, though not strictly enforced, with potential substantial fines and jail time.

 

In the summer of 1995, Rick and Rachel, now a serious couple, joined a weeklong Pastors for Peace work-camp in the Mariano district of Havana hosted by the Dr. Martin Luther King Center, managed by Rev. Raul Suarez, a Baptist pastor. At that time Cubans were defying their government and leaving on small boats to the US due to the dire economic realities on the island. This was different from the government sanctioned Mariel boatlifts of the early 1980’s. Russian assistance, which had supplied over 90% of the country’s energy, had totally disappeared with the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and created a time of extreme economic hardship called the “Special Period” (1991-2000)

 

Prior to arrival, we gathered several suitcases of simple medical and educational supplies and traveled to Cancun City, Mexico (not the resort) to meet with other North American members of the delegation. Our not- so-luxury hotel there had a burned out car in front of it and no AC.. Was this a warm-up we thought? The purpose of this work-camp was to work beside Cubans on two school projects in the morning and to participate in educational experiences in the afternoons. Both schools were in real rough shape. The school that Rick worked in had only two light bulbs. We applied whitewash to walls that hadn’t been touched for many years.

 

The afternoon socio-economic-political experiences provided a snap-shot of life in Cuba at this time. Cuba had made amazing strides in providing educational and health services, but its economy was in crisis and full of contradictions. Cuba allowed US Dollars into the country from the many emigrants abroad to the amount of 1/3 of their GDP (I believe). One could go to the government managed “Dollar Stores” and find all kinds of modern goods, available for purchase with dollars only. The local barrio government tiendas, that took only pesos were poorly stocked, with most basic items rationed. All workers made $20 a month and the best jobs were waiters in the tourist hotels and prostitutes. There were no local businesses to speak of.

 

Rev. Raul Suarez and many others openly spoke out against the government’s poor management of the economy. They just could not mention Castro’s name in any negative way, as there were always informants around. There were generational differences. Those who had experienced pre-revolutionary Cuba, with its huge inequalities, were still fairly faithful to the state; but, young people were highly critical of the lack of opportunity and low standards of living. Most homes had pirated satellite tv stations and were aware of the bigger world. We saw this change of attitude during the July 26^th  Independence Day event that we experienced.

 

One way to celebrate Independence was for neighbors to bring a vegetable to add to the communal  and revolutionary “Peasant Soup” kettle in each neighborhood This event was managed by the local communist party leader. We arrived at one and discovered that only the local leader was present. When questioned about where folks were, the response was that they were at home watching a popular and racy tv novella from Brazil. Given that there were rolling electric brownouts throughout Havana, the juice was on and the locals stayed home. Conversations with the older Cubans, acknowledged the current difficulties, but emphasized how much better it was now than before the 1959 revolution. They were happy to have access to food, education and medicine. There were no young people in attendance.

 

 

• Douglas Martin, “Lucius Walker, Baptist Minister for peace, Dies at 80,” NY Times, 9/11/10 https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/us/12walker.html