Women and Cuba:

Reasons why Cuba is a peace issue, a women's issue, why we should care and what to do....

1. The U.S. is, and has been, waging a "low-intensity war" on Cuba for over 40 years through the blockade on trade and travel, support of anti-Castro terrorists, and a U.S, media that constantly projects an image of a brutal, repressive, totalitarian dictatorship that belies the reality of Cuba.

2. While U.S. peace activists focus on ending the war on Iraq and the violence in the Middle East, the Bush administration is quietly stepping up its plans for the takeover of the Cuban government. In August a Coordinator for the Transition to a Free Cuba was appointed by the State Department and in December the Commission for the Transition to a Free Cuba was reconvened. Its task is to up-date the Commission's 2003 plan which resulted in the overt funding of Cuban dissidents, draconian restrictions on travel to Cuba, expanded barriers to trade, and an escalation of government provocative rhetoric.

3. The U.S. war on Cuba jeopardizes the welfare of Cuban women. The Revolution brought even more benefits to women than it did to others in the population, with woman's equality of pay, free childcare, unlimited education and career opportunities, elder care (which formerly fell mostly to the women), and free and quality reproductive services, such as family planning and access to safe abortion. All these gains will be threatened if the plans of the U.S. government and the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba are implemented after a takeover.

What can you do? Here are some suggestions:

Form a committee in your branch to educate members and the public to challenge the U.S. Policy on Cuba
Join the Cuba Advocacy Network (CAN!) and work to bring change in policy through the U.S. Congress
Promote a delegation to the International Women’s Peace Conference in Havana this November
Join the WILPF Cuba Issues Committee

For help with getting off the ground in any of these efforts, contact WILPF’s Cuba Issues Committee c/o the national office, or Nancy Abbey, 831-465-8272 , email: nabbey@cruzio.com

LINK: http://www.wilpf.org/cuba