By Ana Radelat . Special To The Herald. Published Saturday,
October 7, 2000, in the Miami Herald
The agreement was negotiated in a final $80 billion farm bill that is
expected to be easily approved by the House and Senate.
WASHINGTON -- Debate over whether to ease sanctions on Cuba that has roiled
Congress for months ended Thursday night with an agreement that would allow the
first U.S. sales of food to Fidel Castro's government in 38 years, but bar
expanded travel to Cuba.
The agreement was negotiated in a final $80 billion farm bill that is
expected to be easily approved by the House and Senate before the end of next
week. It would also allow food and medical sales to Iran, Libya, North Korea and
Sudan -- which are currently under U.S. trade sanctions -- and bar the president
from banning the sale of food and medicine in future sanctions packages.
It was a bittersweet victory for many who sought a greater opening of trade
with Cuba. Farm bill negotiators agreed to allow food sales to government
entities in Cuba and ease restrictions on the sale of medicines to the island.
The measure would not, however, allow U.S. government or private financing for
those sales.
Even worse for critics of the embargo, the modest opening of sales to Cuba
carried a very high price: It would deny the president the authority to expand
U.S. travel to Cuba.
"We can go, members of Congress can travel to Cuba, but were saying to
Americans 'Unless you meet very strict restrictions, you cant go,' '' said Rep.
David Obey, D-Wisc., one of several Democrats on the panel who argued against
the travel freeze.
TRAVEL LIMITATIONS
Under current law, 12 categories of Americans -- including journalists,
Cuban Americans, academics, amateur athletes and members of religious groups --
can be licensed by the Treasury Department to spend money on travel to Cuba. The
agreement brokered by the farm negotiators would also add another category of
authorized travel, for U.S. farmers trying to negotiate sales with Cuban
government, but would also strip the president of his power to allow other
Americans to travel.
Calling the provision "pro-Castro,'' Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said, "What
he [Castro] doesn't want is a flock of Americans to travel to Cuba.''
But Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, said the agreement was a "very
important victory for freedom,'' because of its restrictions on travel and
trade.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, also praised the deal. "Its nothing
but smoke and mirrors because it wont result in one dollar more in Castros
pockets.''
Mary Kay Thatcher, a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation,
promised U.S. agribusiness would "to try to fix things and make things
better next year'' for sales to Cuba.
COMPROMISE
The agreement was similar to a compromise between Republican House leaders
and Díaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen -- who wanted no opening of trade to
Cuba -- and farm state Republicans who sought new markets for their farmers.
The agreement angered many in the Senate who had voted for a greater opening
to trade. They accepted the more restrictive measure because they feared that a
fight with House GOP leaders would result in no sanctions reform.
Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., who led the House effort to ease sanctions
-- said, "The agreement doesn't meet the needs of everyone, but it's an
opening.''
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald | 