From Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell

November 9, 2007

First, let me congratulate you for holding this important conference. Rabbi Heschel said it this way. "There comes a time when silence is betrayal. That time is now!"

As a citizen of the United States, I am continually ashamed of the embargo placed on Cuba by my own government. This embargo has created untold suffering for the Cuban people. Yet, despite hardships, the Cuban people have crafted a society that cares for the basic needs of all its people. Quality and available healthcare for all is, in my own country, still an unrealized dream. Education for even the poorest of Cuban people is a priority and abject poverty and hunger do not exist.

Most of all, the embargo has been an embargo of information. Most citizens in the United States know little about life in Cuba and what they do know is prejudiced by our own government's purposeful misinformation. This reality could, perhaps, be tolerated if it were not for the fact that it creates a climate where injustice can flourish without challenge. Such was the case of Elian Gonzalez.

I personally watched, with dismay, as the anti-Castro Cuban-Americans built their case against Elian's return to his loving father and faithful family simply because his family lived in Cuba. Fortunately, there were citizens in the US who took up Elian's case and he was safely returned to his family and his simple Cuban home where he leads his class and grows now to be a disciplined, much loved Cuban boy. I won't be with you in Canada but I will be on my way to Cuba to, once again, meet with Elian and his family to rebuild bridges between Cuban churches broken by tough travel restrictions.

I mention Elian for one very important reason. The Cuban Five and their loving families are victims of our propaganda against the Cuban people. We have created an atmosphere where their guilt is assumed and goes unchallenged by far too many Americans. The fact that their wives are not given access to them has been expressed in my letter to Condoleezza Rice which I represent here. You need to know that, to date, I have received no answer to my letter sent directly to the State Dept. and publicized in the US press.

My hope for the Cuban Five and their families is rooted in the good people in Cuba, in the US, and across the world, who are invariably themselves in this urgent battle for justice. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "The arc of history is long but it points toward justice."

We must join hands across our tightening borders. We must refuse to be intimidated by those in power and we must continue to speak out for the Cuban Five.

To the families gathered at this conference, my heart goes out to you. The years pass by and love that is rightly yours is barred. These actions have no reason to exist. Your courage and patience move us to "break the silence." We can only match it with our voices and our continuing commitment to their cause.

To all in the struggle - Salud!