Dear Friends and Fellow Activists,

On December 5th, a group of us from the United States embarked on an
11-day journey to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.  We arrived in
Santiago, Cuba to begin a five-day, 77+ mile walk to the Guantanamo base,
where we hope to enter the detention facility to monitor the conditions
and meet with both guards and prisoners. We plan to stay until at least
December 15th to maintain a vigil outside the gates of the base, having a
presence over International Human Rights Day on December 10.
 
It is our hope to be able to interview detainees about torture claims and
hunger strikes at the base.  We also seek to initiate a credible,
objective and fair assessment of the situation of the detainees at the
detention facility.  We have lawyers and doctors on call to join us,
should we be allowed in.  
 
It was revealed in mid-November that the U.S. has detained more than
83,000 people in its four-year "war on terror" of which 14,500 remain in
jail. Some 108 are known to have died in U.S. custody, prompting 26
homicide investigations.
 
Guantanamo is the closest-to-home location of some of these detentions
and alleged abuses.  We believe that an ocean, or border, or travel
restriction should not stop us from standing us for what is right.
 
While we are in Cuba, we have a press team working here in the U.S. to
encourage media coverage of our walk and witness in order to keep the
plight of the detainees at the forefront of the public's mind.  
 
To track our journey, see photos, access press releases, statements, and
trip updates, please see http://www.witnesstorture.org  This site will be
updated regularly to keep you abreast of our journey.

There will be a sign-on letter on the website calling on the US
government to stop violating the prisoners rights and to let us into the
base.  In June, President Bush countered questions about torture at
Guantanamo and the United States' commitment to human rights by inviting
members of the European Union to inspect the U.S. base at Guantanamo. He
said, "you're welcome to go down there yourselves... and take a look at
the conditions."  We are hoping you will join in pressuring the Bush
administration to let us answer its invitation by signing the letter and
publicly supporting our request to be let into the base.
 
Feel free to forward this on to others as well.
 
In Peace,

Jackie Allen               Hartford Catholic Worker        
Matthew W. Daloisio        New York Catholic Worker      
Sr. Anne Montgomery, RSCJ  Kairos Community, NY
Gary Ashbeck               Jonah House, MD                     
Amanda W. Daloisio         New York Catholic Worker     
Grace Ritter               Ithaca, NY
Frida Berrigan             War Resisters League, NY       
Thomas J. Feagley          Malden, MA
Patricia Santoro           Jersey City, NJ
Anna Brown                 Kairos Community, NJ             
Clare Grady                Ithaca Catholic Worker           
William Streit             Little Flower Catholic Worker, VA
Dana M. Brown              Ithaca, NY                               
Teresa Grady               Ithaca Catholic Worker
Sheila Stumph              Raleigh Catholic Worker, NC
Daniel Burns               Ithaca Catholic Worker            
Rev. Steve Kelly,          SJ Oakland, CA
Carmen Trotta              New York Catholic Worker
Mark Colville              New Haven Catholic Worker    
Dina Khorasanee            Canada                                  
Tanya Theriault            New York Catholic Worker
Susan Crane                Jonah House, MD                     
Art Laffin                 Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington, DC
Matthew Vogel              New York Catholic Worker
Scott Langley              Raleigh Catholic Worker, NC