In the last year, US policy towards Cuba and Haiti has become more aggressive and covert. There had always been serious indications that the Bush administration’s foreign policy against our struggling neighbor Cuba would become more hostile, but few saw coming the overt kidnapping of a duly elected head of state, President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Currently there is a flurry of misinformation, half-truths, and out-right lies being used to justify the Feb. 29 coup in Haiti which forcibly removed President Aristide and replaced him with a band of armed thugs and convicted criminals. As well, most know nothing about the recently released “Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba” plan which Bush has accepted and is pushing forward. Among many of the destructive recommendations issued in the report are, cuts in all travel exchanges, increased funding to CIA trained “dissidents”, a reduction of family visits for Cuban-Americans to Cuba, and the flying of a C-130 military cargo plane around Cuban waters to illegally broadcast US government propaganda. Join us for an evening devoted to US-Caribbean relations. We hope to shed light on the current political and economic situation between the US and the Caribbean; the historical context of the US blockade against Cuba and Haiti, increased US intervention in both countries, and the current human rights situation in Haiti today.

Panelists include:

• Reverend Lucius Walker, Jr.- IFCO/Pastors for Peace
• Jose Alberto Prieto- First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy
• Marx Aristide- Economist
• Shirley Pate- Haiti/Cuba/Venezuela Project & EPICA Board member

Sponsored by EPICA: 202-332-0292