Ventura Leads Food Industry to Cuba - U.S. taxpayers queuing up for "big giant goose egg"

HAVANA (Reuters) - Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura arrived in communist-run Cuba on Wednesday with a group of top American food and agricultural executives, bringing California raisins and Perdue turkey pastrami to the largest U.S. Cuban trade show since the 1950s.

More than 280 companies from 33 states hope to recover a lost market for U.S. food products as they push for further lifting of sanctions imposed on Cuba after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Cuban President Castro and Ventura, whose trip to Cuba met with Bush administration disapproval, will open the fair on Thursday, said a spokeswoman for show's main sponsor, agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. .

Other industry giants promoting their products in Havana are Cargill, ConAgra Foods Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and Del Monte Foods Co. .

As their representatives arrived, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana, James Cason, warned the companies that Cuba was a "Jurassic Park economy" that could not generate the cash to pay for its imports.

Cuban officials expect to sign hundreds of contracts at the five-day food fair to attract more U.S. interest and encourage growing political support for legislation now before the U.S. Congress to lift a ban on American tourists going to Cuba.

"It's a policy that has not worked for 40 years," Ventura, dressed in jeans and wearing a U.S. Navy SEALS cap, said as he got off a plane from Miami.

Ventura, a maverick politician and former professional wrestler, brushed off criticism of his trip from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of the U.S. president, and anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami.

"Florida has the most companies here, and so what is Gov. Bush's response to that? ... Obviously there is interest in Florida also to come here," he said.

Cubans, who will be allowed to visit the food fair by invitation only on Sunday, will get a glimpse of American household brands -- Kellogg's corn flakes, Wrigley chewing gum, Uncle Ben's rice and Sara Lee cakes -- that have not been seen there for four decades.

California will be offering raisins and E&J Gallo wines. Minnesota has sent buffalo calves, dairy and beef heifers and hogs to the exhibit.

Since last December, Cuba has bought $140 million in American grain, peas, beans, chicken and apples, under a two-year-old liberalization of the trade embargo. In negotiations before the fair, ADM and other firms landed their first deals, for 50,000 tons of rice, the head of Cuba's food import agency Alimport, Pedro Alvarez, told Reuters.

Cuba is looking to buy mainly bulk food, which the state sells to the population at greatly subsidized prices, and also products for its tourist industry and dollar-only shops.

Havana is also banking on the end of a U.S. prohibition on credit that has forced it to pay cash up front for the imports needed to feed Cuba's 11 million people.

Cuba has not recovered since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago, and has exhausted most of its credit with suppliers in European and other nations.

European diplomats in Havana complain that Cuba is paying cash for its U.S. imports while it owes their countries tens of millions of dollars in past purchases.

"Cuba is an international deadbeat," Cason, the U.S. interests office chief, told reporters.

He warned U.S. companies that Cuba had defaulted on most of its loans, had the lowest possible credit rating and owed its international partners $11 billion.

"We don't want to be in that queue of people asking to get their money," he said in a statement read out to reporters.

"It's great to sell eggs for cash, but let's not stick the U.S. tax payers with a big, giant goose-egg," Cason said.

Organizers said American firms rushed to sign up for the Havana fair at the last minute, doubling the number of participants originally expected.

Analysts said the fair may not produce immediate dramatic purchases of U.S. food products, but would stoke efforts to do away with the sanctions.

"The fact that so many people are coming down adds momentum to the move against the embargo," said Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomat in Havana.

SEEING CUBA AS IT REALLY IS
FOUR DECADES AFTER THE REVOLUTION,
CUBA'S POLITICAL PRISONS ARE STILL FULL
AND IT SUFFERS FROM SELF-INFLICTED SHORTAGES
OF PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING

By Dennis Hays*
Guest Columnist
The Miami Herald
Florida
U.S.A.
Colaboración:
CANF News**
Septiembre 25, 2002

Gov. Jesse Ventura says he is a different kind of politician. I hope that he is. He will have a chance to prove it later this week when he travels to Cuba. Through his actions and his public statements, the governor has an opportunity to do something significant in Havana.

The governor believes in education. Well, the most exciting grassroots movement is Cuba today is the growth of the independent libraries — simple rooms in peoples' homes where average Cubans can find books and magazines otherwise denied them.

For their efforts, librarians are often beaten, arrested and thrown out of their houses by the Castro regime, but collectively they bring information and hope to a population that has little of either. The governor can help this movement by taking boxes of Spanish language books to Cuba and personally giving them to one of the independent libraries.

The governor believes in labor rights. He must then know that the International Labor Organization has repeatedly condemned Cuba for the systematic violation of practically every labor right there is.

Hotel jobs are reserved for the communist party faithful and there is rampant racial discrimination in hiring. The regime takes money from foreign partners in dollars and pays workers at an artificial rate in pesos, effectively confiscating over 95 percent of the workers' wages. Independent trade unions are illegal and labor activists imprisoned.

The Dutch human rights organization, Pax Christi Netherlands, notes in a scathing report that the vast majority of Cubans are physically barred from entering tourist areas, a practice known as "tourist apartheid."

The governor has an alternative to becoming complicit in these abuses. There are rooms available in private Cuban homes, known as "casas particulares." By staying with a Cuban family, rather than in a segregated "Sun City" style resort, the governor would register his clear support for the rights of the worker.

The governor wants to promote exports. I hope he has done his due diligence. If so, he knows that Cuba is a bankrupt, deadbeat nation — that Castro owes billions of dollars to every country that has ever been foolish enough to do business with him, that the current round of purchases of American agricultural products is being financed by the regime's decision to stop payment on the debts it owes to other nations, and that the Europeans and Canadians have lost patience with Castro and no longer want to throw good money after bad — thus explaining the Cubans' new interest in us. The regime needs a new source of credit, and we're the only one left.

The governor is justly proud of his service in the military. On his trip he may well be introduced to the Cuban Minister of Higher Education, Fernando Alegret, a man identified in congressional hearings as the infamous "Fidel," a Cuban agent who sadistically beat, tortured, and killed American POWs in Vietnam. Will the governor shake his hand? Or will he insist that Castro release a full accounting of the activities of his agents in North Vietnam?

Finally, the governor spoke movingly on Sept. 11 of how freedom is the foundation of all else. I know he believes this. He must also know that four decades after the revolution, Cuba's political prisons are still full. Cuba suffers from self-inflicted shortages of practically everything, but there has never been a shortage of Cubans who believe enough in freedom to risk their lives.

I urge the governor to go unannounced to the prison cells of Dr. Oscar Biscet, Francisco Chaviano, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez or any of the hundreds of other political prisoners identified by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations. He will know nothing of Cuba if he does not hear their stories.

It is worth noting that the record of Midwestern governors in Cuba is not particularly inspiring. Last month, North Dakota's John Hoeven took the position that whatever the Castro regime does is not of concern to him — as long as Cuba buys his state's agricultural products.

This was practically a "Profiles in Courage" moment, however, when compared with Illinois Gov. George Ryan in 1999. While speaking at the University of Havana, Ryan deleted the entire section of his speech that dealt with human rights, so as to "not offend" Fidel Castro, as he later explained. Castro believes, with ample reason, that American politicians are too polite or too greedy to point out the obvious — that Cuba is a failed state and the single biggest impediment to any improvement is Castro himself.

Ventura has a reputation for being a maverick. Although the odds are against it, I hold out the hope that he earns this reputation and surprises everyone — starting with Fidel Castro.

*Hays, who served coordinator for Cuban Affairs at the State Department from 1993-95, is executive vice president of the Cuban American National Foundation.

Should American Taxpayers Subsidize Fidel Castro?

By Frank Calzon*
Center for a Free Cuba, September 2002
Executive Summary

At the end of July, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on two amendments, each approved by 95 vote margins, to end restrictions on travel and lift restrictions on financing exports to Cuba. The Senate will consider the legislation soon.

While the White House has threatened to veto any legislation that would “bolster the Cuban dictatorship,” the anti-Embargo lobby argues that US tourism will benefit Cubans without strengthening Castro, and that trade with Havana will mean substantial American profits. These arguments are misguided at best and disingenuous at worst.

Fidel Castro is broke, and at issue is not trade, but extending American export credit and export insurance to his regime, both of which are funded by American taxpayers. Since last year, American companies are allowed to ‘trade’ with Castro’s government on a cash and carry basis. But when Castro defaults on his purchases, under the proposed policy American taxpayers will have the burden of picking up his tab.

Agriculture Subsidies
Nine American presidents, from both political parties have supported restrictions on travel to Cuba. And while the anti-Embargo lobby and many editorial pages across the nation try to explain away this long-lasting U.S. policy in terms of domestic political considerations (i.e., the Cuban American vote), the facts prove otherwise.

In a July 11th letter to the House Committee on Appropriations, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill said that: “Trade by other nations with Cuba has brought no change to Cuba’s despotic practices, and it has frequently proved to be an unprofitable enterprise.”

Unprofitable, indeed. France, Spain, Italy and Venezuela have suspended official credits to Castro’s Cuba -- not because of the Cuban communities in those nations – but because Cuba has failed to make payments on its debt, including debt incurred on agricultural purchases. Powell and O’Neill wrote that, “two governments have approached the U.S. to complain that Cuba’s payments of cash for U.S. agricultural products have meant that they are not getting paid at all.”

Reuters reported on July 8, 2002 that, “Direct foreign investment in Cuba plummeted to $38.9 million in 2001 from $488 million the year before.” And earlier in the year, despite Castro’s tantrum, Russia closed its spy facility near Havana, thus denying his government $200 million per year in rent payments.

Castro’s current creditors are far from happy with these circumstances, as many have not received payment on interest or principal credit since 1986. Without even counting Castro’s debt to Russia, which he will not pay because he declares his debt as to a country that “no longer exists,” Havana owes billions of dollars to western banks and former socialist countries.

The situation in Cuba is thus much more a problem of policy than politics. President Bush announced his “U.S. Initiative for a New Cuba” on May 20, 2002, and declared that, “Cuban purchases of U.S. agricultural goods ... would be a foreign aid program in disguise.” And who pays for aid to foreign governments, but the American taxpayers who will eventually foot the tab for the defaults on his debts.

If this is not enough evidence, those lobbying for American credits and imminent subsidies should ask the Canadians for their advice. On August 7, 2002, the Montreal Gazette reported that, “Lilac Islands, a 15,000 ton Cuban-owned ship, has been held in the port of Conakry, the Guinean capital, for the past month while an Ontario company, armed with legal judgements, pursues Cuba for more than $3 million U.S. Last week, Guinea’s Court of Appeals upheld the continuance of the steel-laden ship’s detention-pending the payment of more than $275,000 in debt to Adecon Ship Management of Mississauga. Adacon claims the total debt on several judgements exceeds $3 million.” Imagine U.S. companies chasing down Cuban cargo ships in international waters to collect payment, while American taxpayers sit on the sidelines knowing that they’ll pick up the bill when the debtor doesn’t pay.

Trade with Cuba does not represent trade with Cuban business owners, entrepreneurs or consumers; Trade with Cuba is trade with the Castro government itself, which monopolizes virtually all enterprises and exploits Cuban workers as their sole employer. Said Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s national security advisor, “In Cuba, Fidel Castro is still the one man through whom everything has to go. Any trade that goes through Cuba is going to strengthen Cuba’s regime.”

Regime Supporting Terror
While the anti-Embargo lobby insists on the right of American tourists to travel to Cuba, they ignore other rights and national security considerations. Each right must be weighted against its impact on other rights. As John Stuart Mill once said, “one man’s right to swing his arm ends where my nose begins.” And in the case of Cuba, the desire to travel must be weighed against the risks inherent in subsidizing a regime that poses a national security threat to the United States.

Consider: In their July 11th letter to the Appropriations Committee, Secretary Powell and Secretary O’Neill said that, “A relationship of continuing hostility exists between Cuba and the United States;” that “Cuba has long been listed by the State Department as a state-sponsor of terrorism;” and that, “[Cuba] continues to harbor fugitives from the American justice system, and it supports international terrorist organizations.” Castro has provided a safe haven for more than 70 fugitives from U.S. justice, including several accused of killing American police officers.

Due to the end of Soviet subsidies and his disastrous economic policies, Castro is bankrupt. His lack of cash restricts his ability to engage or support anti-American actions around the world.

But his anti-American commitment remains. On May 10, 2001, Agence France Presse quoted Castro’s speech at the University of Tehran, where he stated: “Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees.”

What, specifically, does Castro have in mind? In a May 6th speech, John Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, warned Americans that “Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort ... [and] has provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states.” Few are demanding that the administration produce a “smoking gun” to prove its assessment of the threat posed by Iraq, Iran, or North Korea, but the evidence is surely in on Castro, who needs American tourism to make up for Soviet money lost, so he can once again pursue a more active anti-American role in the world.

What Opening the Travel Ban Will Do
Some say that the opening of U.S. tourism to Cuba will bring the two cultures together, but the reality is far different. Currently, Castro sets aside hotels, beaches, stores, restaurants, and even hospitals for foreigners, and prohibits his own people from staying in those hotels and patronizing those facilities. U.S. tourism under current conditions would freeze in place Castro’s tourist apartheid, and likely exacerbate it. People-to-people contact under Castro’s regime is far from likely.

But contact between cultures of a different, and often nefarious, kind is much more likely. A March 2002 report released by Johns Hopkins University says that Cuba is “increasingly reported to be a major destination for sex tourists from North America and Europe. The increase is attributed to a concurrent drop in political restrictions on travel to Cuba and a crackdown on sex tourism in Southeast Asia, causing sex tourists to seek out alternative destinations. According to general news reports, Cuba is one of many countries that have replaced Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists ... Canadian sex tourism is also cited as largely responsible for the revival of Havana brothels and child prostitution.”

Conclusion
In their same May letter to the House Appropriations Committee, shortly before the body passed two amendments ending restrictions on travel and financing exports to Cuba, Secretaries Powell and O’Neill stated that, “Current economic circumstances in Cuba do not support changing our position on trade with Cuba. Moreover, the lack of a sound economic rationale makes it more likely that Castro would use any liberalizing of our trade position for his political benefit.”

Providing trade benefits to America’s enemies, especially those on the State Department’s list of terrorist nations, makes as much sense as selling U.S. scrap metal to Japan in the 1930s -- some of which was used to build up the Japanese military and, later, attack Pearl Harbor.
But apart from security policy, one of the greatest advantages of the U.S. embargo on Cuba is that it has saved U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars in unappropriated export insurance and subsidies. American banks aren’t among the consortium of creditors, like those in France, Spain and Canada, who have been waiting for years to be paid what they are owed.

Fidel Castro is broke. He can’t pay his debts, and several of his most important trading partners have suspended credits and export insurance. Yet, like the second to last scene in a bad Hollywood western, some are out trying to muster a cavalry to save his regime. This time, it is a cavalry of American tourists and special interests whose objectives will only strengthen the Western Hemisphere’s most enduring dictatorship.

Capital markets lie only when con artists run the show. And forcing American taxpayers to subsidize Cuba, which has seen a 92% decrease in foreign investment (from $488 million in 2000 to $39 million in 2001) is a leap from a precipice trumping Enron and Worldcom combined. A policy of moving exports from a cash-and-carry basis to credit extensions is like sentencing taxpayers to investing in Enron or WorldCom right before those stocks plummeted.
American taxpayers did not have to bail out those companies. And they should not be forced to bail out the head of an openly hostile government, especially when his default is more a question of “when” than “if.”
If you are interested in contacting your senator or representative on this important issue, please write to:

Your Senator
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Your Representative
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

You can also call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121, and ask for your senator or representative by name.
Frank Calzon is executive director of Center for a Free Cuba.

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