For years, World BEYOND War and other peace groups from around the world had been attending peace conferences in Cuba. When I visited Cuba this past January it was with a visa for that purpose. I published the remarks I made at the conference. We shouted as loudly as we could about January’s conference in websites, social media, emails, and media interviews. The notion that there could be anything wrong with it — or that some institution could punish us for it — never entered our minds.

Legally, you’re allowed to go to a peace conference in Cuba. Nobody has so much as hinted that I’ve done anything illegal. But on Thursday June 5th I got a bunch of letters in the mail telling me that on Monday June 9th the U.S. bank accounts of World BEYOND War and the private accounts of all of my family members would be closed without explanation. This was the action of a particular bank called First Citizens, with no indication of any involvement by any government. The explanation, it would be made clear, was my visit to Cuba.

Read more here.

We got all our U.S. money out of that bank and into two better ones.

We are not scared.

We are outraged.

We keep very little money in any banks. We spend it all on our work.

We think we may be close to being able to add more staff in more portions of the world.

If you can help support the ongoing growth of World BEYOND War, please donate here.

Thank you for everything you do for peace!

—David Swanson, World BEYOND War

World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, chapters, and affiliated organizations advocating for the abolition of the institution of war.
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