Cuba caravan visits Twin Ports July 6

Pastors for Peace will roll through the Twin Ports on Wednesday, July 6 as part of their 22nd caravan to Cuba. Caravan volunteers are visiting 130 cities in Canada, the US and Mexico before delivering hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba in nonviolent defiance of the US blockade.

Loaves and Fishes Community is hosting a gathering to welcome the caravan to Duluth. Potluck starts at 6pm at Dorothy Day House (1712 Jefferson Street), followed by a short presentation about the caravan by Rev. Luis Barrios, associate priest at St Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem and member of the Pastors for Peace board of directors. Freewill cash donations to support the caravan will be accepted.


All are welcome, but RSVP to Loaves and Fishes at duluthcatholicworker(at)gmail(dot)com or by calling 218-724-2054.

Colombian musician and human rights campaigner visits Duluth

This summer, Witness for Peace -- Upper Midwest is hosting a visit to Duluth by Colombian musician and community organizer Daira Quiñones Preciado. Daira is a singer, dancer, and poet who has directly suffered from Colombia's civil war, and who now works to help others who have been similarly victimized by privileged, armed sectors of Colombian society. Daira is among 4.9 million Colombians displaced by violence and she works with displaced people in Bogotá, focusing on their need for food, shelter, and clothing, as well as organizing workshops on dance, music, identity, and human rights. Daira is one of the founders of FUNDARTECP, the Foundation for Art and Culture of the Pacific.

Daira will take part in two public events in June and July:

Women Leading the Way to Justice and Peace

Thursday, June 23

10am to noon

Center for Nonviolence (202 E Superior St, Duluth)

Daira will join local human rights activists for a report from an all-women Witness for Peace delegation to Colombia, looking at the role of women in transforming Colombian society and resisting war.

Conversations in Song

Friday, July 8 

Peace Church (1111 N 11th Ave E, Duluth)

6pm refreshments, 7pm performance

Daira will team up with local talents Sara Thomsen, Beth Bartlett, Steve Horner and Ritchie Townsend for an evening of music and art. Freewill donations to benefit Witness for Peace. 

MN Senators call for troop drawdown in Afghanistan

On June 15, a bi-partisan group of 27 US Senators - including Minnesota's Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar - sent a letter to President Obama demanding an accelerated withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. In a press release issued the same day, Sen. Franken is quoted as saying: "When we started the surge in Afghanistan, the President said we would start drawing down our troops this July and we're holding him to that. Today we call for a sizable and sustained drawdown of our troops starting this summer."

"the President said we would start drawing down our troops this July and we're holding him to that"

Al Franken

The Northland Anti-War Coalition calls for nothing short of an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all US troops and military contractors from Afghanistan. Still, the Senators' letter is a step in the right direction and reflects growing public frustration with endless US wars. Daniel Fanning, the northeast Minnesota Regional Outreach Representative for Sen. Franken, explained in a letter to NAWC and other organizations that Sen. Franken's office has heard from veterans, labor and faith groups across the state "and overall the message we've been hearing has been very consistent" for troop withdrawal.

People power works, so keep it up! Contact Senators Klobuchar and Franken today. Thank them for signing the letter to Obama and urge them to work for complete US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq NOW.

Continue reading for the full text of the letter.