Posted on 04/27/2002 11:37:30 AM PDT by bonesmccoy
HAVANA -- The latest weapon in the arsenal of American politicians who want warmer relations with Cuba: the humble baked bean.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer came to Cuba with a delegation packed with Californians who brought California-grown beans -- and then ate them at a dinner with Fidel Castro that lasted until 3 a.m. Monday.
The California Democrat pronounced her plate of beans "wonderful" and said it was a symbol of the benefits that can be gained when Americans and Cubans cooperate.
"There are certain things that pull people together," including food, said Boxer, who criticized the 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the communist island.
"We have all come away with a single point of view on America's travel ban and America's embargo: We oppose it because we believe that it is an old policy for a new day," she said.
She suggested increased exchanges and cooperation would do more to improve democracy and human rights in Cuba than the existing restrictions.
"We are doing nothing to move this country toward more freedom and more rights," Boxer, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a news conference.
Boxer indicated she would support legislative changes that would let Cuba use U.S. financing to buy products under a 2-year-old law that loosened the embargo somewhat by allowing direct sales of American food to the island.
Currently Cuba must pay cash or obtain financing through a third nation to buy U.S. agricultural products under the law.
Boxer said Cuban officials seemed very interested in products from America's biggest farming state, including beans, rice, turkey, fruit and wine.
The 24-member delegation included Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation. It also included British actress Julia Ormond, who Boxer said spoke with Castro at dinner about the possibility of producing a documentary on ties between Americans and Cubans. She said that Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, also in the delegation, talked about a project that would bring musicians from the two countries together.
Boxer said she also met with Vicky Huddleston, chief officer of the U.S. Interests Section -- the American mission here -- and with several Cuban dissidents.
"I think that the dissidents should be heard here, that they make very important points on human rights," the senator said.
She said the dissidents told her about their effort to force a referendum that would re-examine some aspects of Cuba's system, from an amnesty for political prisoners to opportunities for Cubans to run their own businesses.
Activists say they have gathered enough signatures for a referendum but have not yet submitted them to the National Assembly for approval.
As if there weren't many documentary flics already, as if Cuban/Yankee musicians were not already being "brought together", so average Joe can't legally go to Cuba but politicians and their entourage go on our money?
But Castro does like that U.S. Congress travel expense money!
Will Pink Davis be fund raising in Havana?
Why do I know the answers to these questions!
- doesn't add up to a can of beans!
I think there are a lot of old ideas that Boxer opposes.
Such as the US Constitution.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
The right to own property.
Generally I think Ms. Boxer opposes the old idea of Freedom and the United States.
Only because we aren't focusing our mental energies hard enough.
Newly targeted survivors of Castro's purges?
They expect us to believe they were eating beans at 3 in the morning?! If that is true, I bet Castro's eyes were burning by the time they got to dessert.
Woder what the air quaility was like later in the evening?
Wonder what the air quaility was like later in the evening...
Cuba's gain would be no loss to the U.S. Senate. The only pity is that her fellow California Senator would also be happier down there.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
This is so sick. Castro is the biggest antisemite in our hemisphere. He has trained PLO terrorists, he sent thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks to aid Syria in the Yom Kippur war. Arafat used the Cuban embassy as his headquarters in Beruit. I am sure Boxer doesn't hesitate to speak out, rightly, about antisemites in America. Why the double standard?
Btw...the ADL and the Simon Wiesenthal center are silent on Fidel's hatred of Jews too.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who is Jewish, blasts Cuba for his hatred of Jews and civilization in general all the time. Seeing as 80% of America Jews voted for Gore, why is it only Republicans who are speaking up about Castro's antisemitism?
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