Cuba mourns Pastors for Peace founder Lucius Walker
Thursday 09 September 2010
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EmailThe Reverend Lucius Walker, who led an annual convoy of US solidarity activists to Cuba in defiance of Washington's nearly half-century-old blockade, has died of a heart attack at the age of 80.
Rev Walker, who died on Tuesday in New York, led the not-for-profit Pastors for Peace which has brought tons of supplies to Cuba via Mexico and Canada - everything from walkers and wheelchairs to computer monitors and clothing - since 1992.
A statement on the New York City-based group's website expressed "immeasurable sadness" about "the passing of our beloved, heroic, prophetic leader, Rev Lucius Walker Jnr."
Rev Walker led 21 relief trips to Cuba, the last of which was in July.
Pastors for Peace violates the embargo by refusing to apply for permission to export to Cuba, instead travelling through third countries to deliver supplies donated by people in the US.
In Cuba the Communist Party daily Granma wrote: "Cubans, in gratitude, have to say that we don't want to think of a world without Lucius Walker."
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