John Thomas, of Newfoundland, opens windows on the bus he and two other travelers boarded after a stop at the Mi Sueno Restaurant on Broad Street, in Providence.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE

The old school bus sat outside a Providence restaurant. It was covered in messages of peace, love and politics –– much like a ’60s hippie bus, though decorated in the South Bronx just last week.

But this bus is bound for Cuba, part of a “peace caravan” delivering building, medical and educational supplies to the island nation.

As in previous trips, the group — operating under the umbrella of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization/Pastors for Peace –– has not requested a license from the U.S. government to visit Cuba.

“These are not acts of charity but a demand for social justice,” said Wallace P. Sillanpoa, a Providence activist.

“The point is to challenge the legitimacy or, in this case, the illegitimacy of the blockade to Cuba,” Sillanpoa said.

In 1960, the U.S. imposed a partial economic embargo on Cuba. A year later, it banned all trade with the island nation.

This year, President Obama lifted travel restrictions to Cuba for Cuban-Americans.

“But he hasn’t lifted the sanctions,” said Bill Hill, who is driving the bus to McAllen, Texas, where it and 13 others will converge to cross into Mexico and, ultimately, head to Cuba.

Under current federal law, people “have to get licenses to bring humanitarian aid,” Hill said.

No licenses ought to be needed for such work, he said.

“It’s our right as human beings,” he said.

Moreover, said Sillanpoa, “What right do we have to impose a blockade on a people who chose a particular form of government?”

Despite the travel restrictions to the island, none of the volunteers has been arrested or had to pay fines in any of the previous trips, according to Hill, who said he has visited Cuba 19 times.

They did, however, have several hunger strikes, he said.

In 1993, on what was Pastors for Peace’s second “Friendshipment,” U.S. Treasury officials seized one of the buses at the Texas border. The caravanistas remained onboard and fasted for 20 days until federal officials released the bus and its cargo on its way to Cuba.

In 1996, when the caravan was delivering computer equipment to create a medical network, U.S. Treasury officials again seized several buses and computers. This time, caravanistas fasted for 94 days before they could resume their trip.

Technically, Hill said, “it’s not against the law to travel to Cuba. It’s against the law to spend American money.”

But the donations that the group will deliver, Hill said, are meant for the Cuban people, not the Cuban government.

Hill’s bus and 13 others that by trip’s end will have visited more than 130 cities in the United States and Canada are expected to arrive in Texas on July 18. If successful at crossing the border, they will load the goods onto a freighter in Tampico, Mexico, for transport to Cuba.

Volunteers will fly to Havana, where some will head to Pinar del Rio as part of an ongoing reconstruction project in an area ravaged by hurricanes last fall, and the rest will travel around the island as part of an educational tour.

marmenta@projo.com