Church World Service (CWS), the Humanitarian agency, has protested at the weekend against recommendations made in an advanced draft of a report it received on Friday.

|TOP|The CWS claims the report would end its ability to provide basic relief aid to those in need on the island, if it was enacted.

The report was made by the Bush Government’s Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.

The Commission was chaired by Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, and co-chaired by Secretary of Commerce George Gutierrez. As of yet the report has not been released officially.

Should President Bush decide to accept the recommendations of the report, and the Commerce Department enact them, it is unlikely that CWS would be allowed to provide aid through the Cuban Council of Churches (CCC), which has been a partner of CWS in Cuba for 60 years, according to CWS Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough.

CWS has pointed out that aside from the problems the report causes for aid delivery, it also has some negative impact on religious freedom.

The CWS would view any regulations resulting from the recommendations of this report as an unwarranted incursion into religious freedom by the Bush government.

CWS has claimed that the report is an assault on ecumenical relations not just in Cuba, but internationally. The report allegedly sets a dangerous precedent by trying to dictate the ways in which humanitarian aid is delivered to those who need it.

By threatening the way CWS delivers aid in Cuba, there is no reason to suppose it could be hampered elsewhere globally.

One of the reports recommendations reads:

|AD|"Tighten regulations for the export of humanitarian items, other than agricultural or medical commodities, to ensure that exports are consigned to entities that support independent civil society and are not regime
administered or controlled organisations, such as the Cuban Council of Churches."

McCullough claimed that it was chilling that the CCC was mentioned by name, and referred to as an example of a “regime-controlled organisation.”

CWS spoke of how some of their main shipments to Cuba, food, medicine and medical equipment could be exempted from any new regulations. But expressed fears that this was far from certain.

However other goods like blankets, school kits and sewing supplies would almost certainly not reach the CCC, which could seriously exacerbate the potential problems of one of the worst hurricane seasons ever predicted.

McCullough, along with other ecumenical representatives, has been trying to meet with the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Mr Thomas Shannon. However he has been so far unsuccessful in meeting him.

McCullough claims that ecumenical bodies have a right to choose their own partners and to relate internationally. He went on to say: “This raises grave concerns apart from the politics of US-Cuban relations.”

The report also refers to restrictions to travel to and from Cuba. The CWS has been advocating such restrictions earlier in the year when MuCullough proposed such restrictions during an address to gathered members of Congress and officials at the Departments of State and Treasury.

MuCullough pointed out that since the late 1940’s the CWS has engaged with an ecumenical partner in Cuba that enambles cooperative work.

He said: “We have no doubt that the Cuban Council of Churches is an authentic Christian expression. Our hope is that faith will not be manipulated as a tool of international diplomacy.”

As an ecumenical humanitarian agency, the CWS is in itelf a cooperative effort. The CWS represents 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations in the USA, which amounts to millions of members at the local church level.

The associate director for CWS public policy, Martin Shupack said: "To hinder this activity is to strike at the heart of our religious identity and freedom. Religious freedom was a key principle to the founders of the American Republic.”

Since 2004, the American Government has taken steps to limit travel to Cuba by Cuban Americans who wish to visit family, scientists, academic researchers and students. Now religious bodies are also included in that list.