| IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS ...
Our successful May 27, 2006 party at Eric Thiermann's beautiful grotto raised $2,100, which AGuaS donated to the success of the Trilateral conference in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Thanks to all who participated, helped, and drank a mojito for Cuba!!
Last summer, the Santa Cruz members of AGuaS raised $2,000 in hurricane relief for our sister county in Cuba. On December 5, 2005 we received the following gracious thank you from the Presidente del Municipio Guam‡, Medardo Tamayo. He looks forward to discussing our future collaborations, so let's put on our thinking caps and move forward.
ãA–o de la Alternativa Bolivariana para las AmŽricasä.
A: Compa–eros
La presente tiene como objetivo en nombre de los pobladores del municipio Guam‡ agradecerle el gesto de enviar un aporte monetario de $ 2000 d—lares para contribuir con los ciudadanos que fueron afectados por el Hurac‡n Iv‡n.
Hoy ratificamos un pensamiento de JosŽ Mart’;
·.Los pueblos no se unen sino con lazos de fraternidad y amor.
Y por estos lazos est‡n unidos los pueblos de Guam‡ y Santa Cruz. Esperamos poder continuar cumplimentando las acciones del Hermanamiento, por lo que los invitamos a iniciar una segunda etapa de trabajo donde conozcamos m‡s de nuestras costumbres socio culturales.
Agradecido le saluda cordialmente;
Lic. Medardo Tamayo Lugo
Presidente del Municipio Guam‡.
Santiago de Cuba.
Cuba.
Margaret Metzinger, Brett Knupfer, Ellen Farmer
take a shift at our info table while Nancy Abbey, Takashi Yogi,
and Dawn Gable enjoy the WE Carnival in Santa Cruz in early June
It has been a year since we have had an AGuaS public meeting. Our organic agriculture delegation gave a report-back in June, 2005, but other than that, we have been counting on the fine work of the Cuba Study Group to keep us up-to-date on U.S.-Cuba policy issues and Cuban culture. Friends delivered our software donation to our sister schools in July, and of course there was our aforementioned hurricane relief drive (pre-Katrina). As you are probably aware, the Cubans lost 16 people in Hurricanes Dennis and Ivan, successfully evacuating millions of people. They offered 1,100 doctors to the relief efforts in Louisiana and Houston. New Orleans even is a sister city with La Habana!! But the U.S. government ignored their offer. Thus, several thousand people died as a result of Hurricane Katrina. We look forward to a day very soon when we can begin meaningful exchanges with our counterparts in Guam‡.
Meeting report from November 30, 2004:
Theme: "Strategies for Sister Cities and Counties"
How far are we willing to go to Prevent an invasion?
How much political capital will the Bush Administration spend on Cuba?
As the I Ching will tell you: Perseverence Furthers...
Clayton Leander, of the Richmond-Regla Sister City committee will report on his efforts working with Attorney Bill Martinez and Congressman Sam Farr to improve the chances for cultural exchanges -- especially bringing Cubans here.
Nancy Abbey will talk about her attendance at the National Network on Cuba meeting in DC followed by The Cuba Summit (a pro-trade gathering) in Tampa.
Ellen Farmer will give a report on the recent Latin American Studies Association conference, in Las Vegas, where 65 Cubans were refused visas at the last minute by the State Dept, decimating a number of panels and presentations. The celebration for a collaborative economics book created by Harvard scholars and six Cuban economists was held in a room with 65 empty chairs. Congressman William Delahunt (D-MA), of the Cuba Working Group, sent his Chief of Staff to strategize with the academic community. They are very articulate, angry, and ready for action!
Thanks to everyone who donated to hurricane relief at the September meeting. We raised more than $1000.
Our friends in Guam‡ can't wait to hear some positive news from us about upcoming delegations.
Report on WILPF Meeting, Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Bush Miscalculates Family Values in Miami and Cuba
How many of us know that the Bush administrationâs
Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba is pumping
$36 million U.S. taxpayer dollars into fomenting
opposition to the Cuban government within Cuba? What
used to be covert activities during the Cold War have
become a blatant abuse of power on a sovereign nation.
Through our local sister county the Alliance of
Guam‡ and Santa Cruz County and the Cuba Study
Group, as well as other humanitarian aide groups,
Global Exchange, and Pastors for Peace, many Santa
Cruz County residents have traveled to Cuba, proving
to themselves there is no vicious dictatorship, as the
Bush folks fantasize.
Our job, as peace and justice workers, is to alert our
friends and families here and in other states that
Bush is threatening to ãtake outä Castro as election
year entertainment. When did ãregime changeä become a
non-controversial phrase? What is it about sovereignty
that this administration doesnât understand? After the
resounding victory of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela,
verified by the unquestionably ethical Jimmy Carter,
any Bush administration action would be roundly
criticized throughout the Western Hemisphere. However,
in order to support our friends in Cuba, we must stop
them in their tracks by calling attention to their
plans now.
The Bush administrationâs ãregime changeä plans are
published on the State Department website for all the
world to read at:
www.state.gov/p/wha/rls/32276.htm
Recent AGuaS History ...
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Cuban Americans living in Santa Cruz told their stories
July, 2004: The Pastors for Peace Caravan was in Cuba. The Venceremos Brigade was in Cuba. Congressman Sam Farr, as part of the Cuba Working Group in Congress, worked to dismantle the Bush Administration's draconian Cuba policies in DC with some success.
June 3-6: Ellen Farmer, Kathy Bisbee, Keren Bloomfield, Scott Farmer
Carol Cross, and Nancy Abbey attended the National Board Meeting of the US-Cuba Sister Cities Association (USCSCA) in Washington, DC.
January 10-14: Nancy Abbey attended the National Board Meeting of the US-Cuba Sister Cities Association (USCSCA) in Washington, DC.
The Education Project Group returned from a January 7-9 Exchange with English teachers in Guamá.
AGuaS hosted a very successful fundraising booth at the Fair Trade Crafts Fair in Santa Cruz Dec 6-7. We sold 60 bags of Fair Trade End the Embargo coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee, and talked with many people about our goal of normalizing relations with the ordinary folks of Guamá, Santiago, Cuba.
Visits by our own citizen diplomat delegations continue, and we hope to host two Cuban visitors a year from now at the Eco-Farm Conference in Asilomar.
A special thanks to Dana, of Pachamama World Fair Trade Crafts, for sharing Guatemalan clothing items with us. They attracted people to our booth, and Dana donated the profits to AGuaS! We hope she can join us on a cultural delegation one day soon!
November 19-22: the Medical Project Group met with their counterparts in Guamá and toured the area. |
