In an annual act of civil disobedience, a group of 31 U.S. citizens who make up the Venceremos Brigade today crossed the Peace Bridge from Fort Erie to Buffalo this morning, completing a two-week visit to Cuba.
This is the 43rd year that brigade members have traveled to the island nation in defiance of the United States government's restrictions on unlicensed visitations. While there, the brigadistas, as they're known, delivered over 1,000 pounds of material aid, volunteered on civic projects, and exchanged dialogue with the Cuban people in four island provinces.
Since 1962, the federal government has banned unlicensed travel and trade to Cuba.
The group is calling for a lifting of the bans and a reversal of what it calls the government's failed policies toward Cuba. They call the restrictions unjust and unconstitutional, and are seeking to increase pressure on the federal government to lift its restrictions and improve relations between the two countries.