Posted on 07/24/2002 3:25:29 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Among measures now being considered by U.S. lawmakers is one that would allow financing for American food sales to Cuba - now conducted on a cash basis.
HAVANA (AP) - Members of a North Dakota delegation hoping to sell more of their state's grain to communist Cuba said Tuesday they were already working on new sales contracts during the first full day of their trade mission.
"We are looking to get some free time today so we can call and check on some prices," North Dakota Farm Bureau President Eric Aasmundstad said as the group toured a wheat milling plant. "That's how far along we are," he said, declining to provide specifics until contracts were signed.
"Our discussions have gone very well and we are hopeful that we will be leaving here with some good contracts," added Gov. John Hoeven, who with Aasmundstad is heading the four-mission that began Monday.
Delegation members said they were not pushing for a meeting with President Fidel Castro and are instead focusing on doing as much business as possible before they return home on Thursday.
The visit by Hoeven comes as American farm representatives press Congress to expand a 2-year-old law allowing direct sales of food to the island, an exception to sanctions prohibiting most trade with the island.
Among measures now being considered by U.S. lawmakers is one that would allow financing for American food sales to Cuba - now conducted on a cash basis.
Pedro Alvarez, president of the Cuban food import concern Alimport, said Monday his county could buy as much as 60 to 70 percent of all imported food from the United States if financing were allowed.
Hoeven is the second sitting American governor to visit Cuba in the four decades since the United States imposed trade sanctions against the island. Illinois Gov. George Ryan visited Cuba on similar trade missions in 1999 and earlier this year; Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has said he hopes to visit by year's end.
While in Cuba, the North Dakota delegation will also visit a pasta factory, a cooperative farm, a supermarket and meet with trade officials.
Hoeven is the latest high profile American to visit Cuba in an effort to increase trade with the Caribbean country. Former President Carter called for an end to U.S. travel and trade prohibitions when he visited in May.
Since the first direct American food sales to the island in December, Cuba has bought, contracted or confirmed its intention to buy more than 650,000 tons of U.S. agricultural products, worth about $106 million. Food delivered thus far includes apples, onions, corn, rice, wheat, soy, poultry, vegetable oil, eggs and pork lard.
North Dakota companies exported more than 2,000 tons of dried green peas, worth more than $500,000, to Cuba in June - the first direct food shipment from the state to the communist country since President Kennedy imposed the trade embargo.
U.S. lawmakers from farm states are pushing to end a ban on American financing of the sales to make it easier to sell to Cuba. But President Bush says he'll veto any more efforts to ease existing sanctions until Cuba undertakes economic and political reform.
Cuba last year devalued its currency by 18 percent and fell behind in debt payments of $500 million to private banks and firms in France, Spain, Japan, Canada, Chile and Venezuela. (This does not include the repayment of government trade credits to France for the last four years and the principal on foreign debt of $35 billion.) With export prices down in nickel, sugar and tobacco, along with a fall in tourism and remittances from abroad, Cuba will remain an economic basket case. Doing business in countries that violate labor rights is not considered good business practice.
In Cuba, workers in foreign joint ventures are paid $400 to $500 a month, except that the Cuban government contracts the workers and pays them 400 to 500 pesos, or $20 a month, instead. Exploitation of child labor is officially tolerated, and it is commonplace to find children as young as 8 who are working. Finally, liberalizing exports to Cuba will produce a revenue windfall for customs brokerages, wholesale, distribution and retail stores -- all government-operated. This will provide increased money for Mr. Castro's intelligence and security services and neighborhood vigilante organizations, further postponing democracy and economic freedom in Cuba. There are a score of countries in the Caribbean Basin that embrace free markets, political democracy and institutional reforms, thereby offering far greater opportunities than Cuba.***
Sugar and tourism force a bitter pill on Cubans *** The government is closing almost half its ageing, decrepit sugar mills and cutting industrial capacity by about 50 per cent. The authorities say workers will not suffer but it is a bitter pill to swallow for an industry that has shaped Cuba's rural and economic landscape for centuries and has been at the heart of Fidel Castro's revolution. Foreign analysts say Cuba, still the world's fourth largest sugar exporter, is doing the right thing by downsizing but President Castro has never really cared for outside advice. As if that were not enough Venezuela, which was one of the island's main oil suppliers, with 53,000 barrels a day, has suggested that it is unlikely to resume exporting much-needed fuel to its Latin American neighbour until it sees some money for previous deliveries. In a rare admission that there are difficulties, the state-run media have urged consumers to con serve energy - a sure sign that Cubans will suffer much of the long hot summer with power cuts.
Foreign investors keep complaining that the Cuban state partners they must work with are taking their money but do not always want to listen to their advice. The European Union has sent a report on behalf of investors to the Cuban government with a list of complaints and suggested solutions. It says there are too many rules and regulations applied to foreign companies that are often not applied fairly. The investors keep coming because they see a potentially attractive market just a short hop from the US, a market with which Washington prevents its own citizens from doing business. The question is when will they see some return on their investment? Mr Castro has made it clear that they will not see any fundamental changes soon. The 75-year-old has even been trying to ensure that his achievements of the past 43 years remain long after he is gone.***
Don't subsidize a tyrant*** While the embargo restricts most U.S.-Cuba trade, it does not impose a humanitarian burden. Cuba frequently has bought wheat from Canada, rice from Vietnam, and medicine from Europe, Asia and Latin America. Donations of food and clothing and the licensed sale of U.S. medical products are permitted. The real cause of Cuba's hardship is not the embargo but the state's Soviet-style economy. Traditional exports such as sugar cost the regime more to produce than they sell for on the global market. Tourism brings in hard currency but not nearly enough to provide for Cuba's needs. Debt payments are so uncertain that major trade partners often must extend new loans.***
Friends of Fidel*** Louisiana rice and Illinois wheat producers should not assume that selling to Havana is synonymous with getting paid. U.S taxpayers should be wary. Mr. Castro desperately needs credits and subsidies, and Washington is being pressured to provide them. If the United States begins to subsidize trade with Cuba estimated at $100 million a year five years from now, U.S. taxpayers could be holding, or paying off, a $500 million tab. That´s real money.
Before extending Mr. Castro credit, grain growers should visit any street corner in Manhattan and observe a game played there. Called three-card monte, it consists of convincing the player that he knows exactly where the card carrying his money is. Until it disappears. In this game, the gambler takes his own chances. Where trade with Mr. Castro is concerned, the U.S. taxpayer will be left holding the losing card.***
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Crack down on Castro*** It doesn't end there. Cuba is working with Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to undermine America. In a meeting with Mr. Khamenei last year, Mr. Castro said that, in cooperation with each other, Iran and Cuba can destroy America. He added that "the United States regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up." Senior State Department officials have discussed publicly the threat of Cuba's bioterrorism program. As we rush to protect our citizens from smallpox and anthrax, Mr. Castro is diverting the resources of his desperately poor economy to offensive biological-warfare research and development, and selling biotechnology to other rogue states. "We are concerned that such technology could support bioweapons programs in those states," says John Bolton, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
Even more than with al Qaeda terrorists based in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Somalia, Cuba's geographic proximity to the United States offers Mr. Castro's agents opportunities to infiltrate and gain access to U.S. territory and our critical infrastructure. In this connection, the current regulations on U.S.-Cuba travel are a crucial tool for law enforcement to prevent the use of bioweapons against the American people. This week, Congress will vote on legislation to lift aspects of the embargo on Cuba. Doing so at this time would be a grave mistake. The theory of the legislation is that more travel and trade with Cuba will liberalize the regime - but in reality, virtually all of the money that Americans might spend in Cuba will go to the government. Worse, a significant expansion of human traffic between our nation and Cuba would hopelessly complicate the job of Customs, the FBI and counter-terrorism officials who are trying to protect against the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction into the United States.***
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No U.S. Dollars to Castro***Perhaps no other exiles in the world have been so loyal and dedicated to bringing freedom and democracy back to their homeland as the Cubans, and no others have attained the enormous economic success that the Cuban-Americans have in the U.S. But in relation to their goal to bring freedom and democracy to their homeland, they are acting with their hearts instead of with their heads. They must finally realize the terrible mistake they are making by sending money to Castro and visiting there and spending even more U.S. dollars during their stay. Between 1959 and 1978, Castro did not allow exiles to return to Cuba to visit their relatives. Now that they are allowed to visit, they need to make the sacrifice for a while in order to help bring freedom back to Cuba and their relatives.
As a matter of principle, I have never sent a penny to any of my relatives or friends in Cuba, nor do I plan to visit there until there is real freedom and democracy. I'd rather die in exile than set a foot in and thereby support a country where tyranny, repression, apartheid and slavery reign. That is not the Cuba I want to see. The best gift we can give to our relatives and friends trapped under Castro's boot is their liberation, their total freedom and the restoration of all their human rights denied for 43 long and dark years. Sending U.S. dollars to Castro's pockets won't bring the freedom and democracy we all want.***
According to the African Caribbean Pacific or ACP secretariat, about 63 national leaders are attending, including South African President Thabo Mbeki. Two of its most controversial leaders - Cuba's Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe - will not be there.
The European Union is telling the ACP - which accounts for more than 650 million people and includes 40 of the world's poorest countries - that if they want to keep getting European aid, they will have to start removing their trade barriers to Europe's exports. Under an agreement signed between the group's members and the EU in 2000 at Cotonou in the African state of Benin, the European Union is also linking trade and aid to ACP states which impose safeguards to prevent corruption.***
The White House last week threatened to veto any change in U.S. policy toward Cuba, accusing Congress of providing "a helping hand to a desperate and repressive regime."
I hope George W. sticks by his guns on this AND that a veto holds. It appears Castro is not far from losing control IF his hard currency income remains low.
BUMP!
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