CUBA-U.S.: Bilateral Relations Attain ‘Historic Moment’

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jan 26 2002 (IPS) - U.S. politicians and business executives visiting Cuba feel like they are the protagonists of a historic moment in bilateral relations, with a trade-related emphasis.

“The embargo serves no one’s best interests,” said George Ryan, governor of the U.S. state of Illinois, Thursday, as he began his second tour of Cuba bringing with him a shipment of medicines valued at a million dollars.

The arrival of the governor, accompanied by pharmaceutical company representatives from Illinois, coincided with that of executives from Cargill, Inc., one of the largest agri-business companies in the United States, and from the Marsh supermarket chain.

Cuba has received numerous U.S. visitors this month, including several lawmakers, more than 500 entrepreneurs and some 700 students and academics from the “Semester at Sea” project of the University of Pittsburgh – not to mention the U.S. tourists who violate the laws banning direct travel between the two countries.

“It is time to end the embargo and welcome Cuba fully into the international market,” stated Ryan, the only U.S. governor who has visited the island since President Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

Since his first trip to the socialist-run island in late 1999, Ryan has been an outspoken critic of the rules that have been continually upheld by the U.S. Congress since 1960 which prohibit trade with Cuba.

The economic sanctions against Cuba, “robs us in Illinois and in the United States of a vast consumer market of 11 million people,” he said.

“The long wait is over. This is truly a historic moment,” said Warren Staley, chairman and CEO of Cargill, as he announced his company’s first sale to Cuba since 1992: 25,000 tons of corn.

Cargill, with a presence in 57 countries worldwide and an annual turnover of 48 billion dollars, exported food to Cuba prior to the embargo and then continued to do so through subsidiaries in third-party countries. But in 1992 that route was closed down by the U.S. law known as the Torricelli Act.

Last November, Cargill Americas, a Cargill subsidiary, sold approximately 54,000 tons of corn, wheat and soybean oil to the government-run Cuban firm Alimport.

The transaction was part of a broader exchange valued at 35 million dollars, requested by Cuba as an “exceptional” case that was intended to restock its food reserves in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Michelle.

The United States authorised in 2000 the cash sale of food and medicine to Cuba, but the Castro government refused at the time to purchase so much as “an aspirin or a grain of rice” from its giant northern neighbour until the trade embargo was completely lifted.

Alimport chief, Pedro Alvarez, said Thursday that a “gesture” from Washington, such as facilitating access to the special licenses that are currently required for commercial operations with Cuba, would receive a positive response from Havana.

The Castro government would also interpret as a positive step the approval of a legislative bill that permits private financing for the sales of food and medicine to Cuba, transactions that currently are limited to payments in cash.

Alvarez pointed out that his country represents a food market worth several hundreds of millions of dollars for U.S. farmers in the short term. Cuba is able to carry out the cash transactions, but trade could be much greater if financing were available, he explained.

Cargill’s Staley stated that this Caribbean island is a natural market for U.S. farmers because the proximity of the two countries provides an advantage as far as both costs and quality.

“It is our sincere hope that the success of this initial commercial transaction will lead to a further improvement in U.S.- Cuban relations,” he said.

In the executive’s opinion, the “logical steps” now would be to lift the restrictions on financing of food sales and permit travel by U.S. citizens to the island.

The increase in bilateral contacts in recent months has sparked the ire of Cuban exile organisations in the United States, which do not rule out the possibility of negotiations between the two governments.

Another sign of improved relations between Washington and Havana was the Castro government’s decision this month to stay out of the way of the transfer of prisoners captured in Afghanistan to the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo, at the eastern end of the island.

The Cuban government even stated that it is “willing to cooperate with any services of medical assistance that might be required,” and with sanitation programmes and campaigns to fight disease carrying insects in the areas surrounding the Guantánamo military enclave.

Faced with this new situation, 10 anti-Castro groups joined forces Jan 22 to protest what they say is U.S. President George W. Bush’s intention to prioritise economic interests over the human rights of the Cuban people.

José Basulto, head of the anti-Castro group Brothers to the Rescue, said that if the Bush administration is aiming towards a more harmonious relationship with the Castro regime, it will enter into confrontation with the Cuban exile community.

Brothers to the Rescue and the Democracy Movement, both based in Miami, have been organising aerial and maritime convoys since 1996 that gather off the coast of the island to protest against the Castro government.

On Feb 24, 1996, two small aircraft of Brothers to the Rescue engaged in this type of protest were shot down by the Cuban air force.

The incident triggered a crisis that quickly ended what had been an incipient process of rapprochement between Washington and Havana.