Rev. Lucius Walker, pastor who defied Cuba embargo, dies

HAVANA - The Rev. Lucius Walker, who led an annual pilgrimage of U.S. aid volunteers to Cuba in defiance of Washington's nearly half-century-old trade embargo, has died of a heart attack in Manhattan. He was 80.

Walker, who died Tuesday, headed the nonprofit Pastors for Peace, which since 1992 has brought tons of supplies to Cuba via Mexico and Canada - everything from walkers and wheelchairs to computer monitors and clothing.

Walker led 21 relief trips to Cuba, the last of which was in July. Pastors for Peace violates the embargo by refusing to apply for permission to export to Cuba, instead traveling through third countries to deliver supplies donated by Americans.

The organization is one of several that bring goods to Cuba in open defiance of the embargo, which took its current form in February 1962.

Walker was born Aug. 3, 1930, in Roselle, N.J. He graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., in 1954, and earned a master of divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School four years later.

Walker was founding director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization and negotiated an agreement with Cuban officials whereby dozens of American youngsters from poor areas can come to study at Havana's Latin American School of Medicine. - AP