In defiance of the State Department ban on travel to Cuba, 75 U.S. students arrived in Havana on June 12th. The trip is sponsored by the Student Committee for Travel to Cuba and has the aim of opposing the travel ban and giving Americans first hand reporting on Cuba. 57 students took the same journey last year, and four of them are now underindictment on charges which could lead to 15-year jail sentences and 15,000 dollar fines, All the 57 have had their passports revoked.
As an expression of their friendship with the Cuban people, the 75 have donated blood to the Havana blood bank. Edward Lamenski, head of the delegation and a leader of the Propressive Labor Movement said: "Our Government should be responsible for the bloodshed of the Cuban people. I should like to transfuse several drops of my blood to compensate the Cuban people for the blood they have lost. The piratic attacks (on Cuba) made by the counter-revolutionaries serving the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency have aroused widespread indignation among the American people," he added.
based on Militant and Hsinhua reports