Posted on 04/11/2002 4:08:22 PM PDT by Jean S
WASHINGTON --
Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel and Marcy Kaptur will be in Cuba over the weekend to check for future business and agriculture trade possibilities.
Rangel said Thursday that the trip was intended "to have business people get a better understanding of the opportunities in Cuba if and when" the four-decade U.S. trade embargo ends.
Kaptur said she would pursue agriculture interests and the repatriation of remains of an American who fought for Fidel Castro's guerrilla army but was executed when he criticized Castro's regime.
Rangel, who has been to Cuba several times, said he did not know all of the people organizing the trip -- which he said had received U.S. government approval. He said he believed they did not have anything ready to sell to Cuba now.
"They just asked me to facilitate the tour, then as an afterthought they asked me to come," said the New York lawmaker, the top Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
Kaptur, D-Ohio, said she assumed she was invited for the trip that begins Friday because she is the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, where trade with Cuba is drawing attention.
Many lawmakers representing farm states have sought to knock down the trade embargo. A law enacted two years ago allows grain sales to Cuba, but bars public or private financing of the sales. America's competitors readily sell their products to Cuba, often providing credit and subsidies.
Kaptur also is trying to bring back the remains of William Morgan, who was born in Toledo, Ohio. The former soldier for Castro was killed by firing squad in 1961 after he began deriding Castro's rule and was buried in Havana.
Morgan's widow, Olga Goodwin, who also fought in the revolution and spent 12 years in Cuban prisons, was one of the estimated 130,000 Cubans who migrated en masse to the United States in 1980 and moved to Toledo by 1981. She now wants her husband's body back.
"I'm going to make a special plea ... to the highest-ranking government officials we meet," Kaptur said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.