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Keith Epstein. Tampa Bay
Online. Mar 6, 2003.
WASHINGTON - Tampa politician Jim Davis ignored four decades of political
convention and alienated some constituents this week by becoming the first
Florida congressman to openly visit Cuba since Fidel Castro came to power in
1959.
Not only did Davis, a moderate Democrat, go where others feared to tread, he
had a different itinerary from the wave of politicians such as Mayor Dick Greco
who visited in pursuit of trade.
Greco met with Castro over dinner in July. Davis' most headlined rendezvous
was Sunday with Oswaldo Paya, a dissident leading a drive for democracy.
During his only meeting with a Cuban official, Ricardo Alarcon, a top Castro
adviser, Davis said he sternly told Alarcon of his conversations with ordinary
Cubans: "Everyone in this country lives in fear.''
Now Davis has some explaining to do back home - primarily to Tampa native Al
Fox and others who want to end the trade embargo. Davis would open gates wider
for medical goods only.
"This was a very different trip than the mayor took,'' Davis said. "But
you can't please everybody on this issue.'' | 
