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Ryan set to make 2nd trip to Cuba
By Ray Long. Wednesday January 09
Gov. George Ryan, who made a groundbreaking journey to Cuba three years ago,
is headed back this month on a trip billed as a humanitarian mission as well as
a chance to broaden relations with medical officials there.
Ryan was the first U.S. governor to visit Cuba since President Fidel Castro
seized power more than four decades ago. Ryan's first step onto the tarmac at
Jose Marti Airport in October 1999 angered conservatives in his party while
opening doors for potential trade between Cuba and Illinois.
"When I led our first humanitarian mission to Cuba, I hoped that one
day we would help improve the conditions of life for Cubans and at the same time
benefit the people of Illinois," Ryan said Tuesday. "On this trip the
people of Illinois will once again reach out to our neighbors in Cuba and build
stronger, long-lasting bridges of goodwill and understanding."
In the wake of Hurricane Michelle's devastation Nov. 4, the governor and his
delegation will travel for three days beginning Jan. 24. He will visit under the
license of New York-based Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, a group
with ties to businesses that would profit from trade with Cuba, including
food-processing giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. of Decatur, Ill.
Full story at Chicago Tribune
3 Seabees, civilian will assist in Cuba
By R.W. Rogers Wednesday January 09
Three sailors and a civilian engineer from Hampton Roads left for Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, on Tuesday to assist in building a maximum-security prison camp that
could hold up to 2,000 top al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners.
Barracks and other structures for about 1,500 U.S. troops, who will guard
prisoners captured in Afghanistan , will also be built at the U.S. naval base,
which once held Cuban and Haitian refugees.
Three sailors from the 2nd Naval Construction Brigade, along with a civilian
engineer from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division, are
part of the contingent. The Navy didn't release the names of the four or how
long they're expected to stay in Cuba.
About 40 Seabees are already at Guantanamo Bay. That number will top 100 as
the construction gears up, said Daryl Smith, a brigade spokesman.
Full story at The Daily Press
First U.S. wheat to Cuba in 40 years
By Juan A. Lozano. Associated Press Writer.
GALVESTON, Texas 9 (AP) -- Flowing from a snake-like spout, 30,000 metric
tons of grain poured into the hull of a ship set to take it to a place American
wheat hasn't gone in 40 years -- Cuba.
The ship, scheduled to leave the Port of Galveston on Wednesday, will not
only deliver the first shipment of U.S. wheat to Cuba since the trade embargo
was implemented against the island country in 1961, but also carry the economic
hopes of farmers and lawmakers hoping to create a new market.
"The Cuban embargo is a highly charged and emotional issue for some,''
U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, said Tuesday as he and other officials stood
near the ship as wheat was loaded in it. "But after visiting (the country)
it's an ill-advised policy that hurts people. This is a historic first shipment.
But we have a long way to go.''
The commercial shipment of wheat -- from Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma -- is a
venture between Decatur, Ill.-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Kansas City,
Mo.-based Farmland Industries Inc.
"This is a very exciting time for American agriculture,'' said Joe
Royster, a member of the Archer Daniels/Farmland advisory board. "American
farmers can feed the world and end hunger in many developing countries.
The sale of the wheat was made possible by congressional action in 2000 that
softened the embargo, allowing the sale of food to the Caribbean country but
barring U.S. government financing of any such sales.
Cuban purchases of U.S. medical supplies have been legal since 1992.
The wheat aboard the 600-foot-long Turkish ship the M.V.H. Ismael Kaptanoglu
was set to arrive in Havana by Saturday.
American agribusiness is hoping this first shipment will lead to many others
and open up Cuba as a new market. The Caribbean country buys about 1.1 million
tons of wheat each year, mostly from Europe, Canada and Argentina.
"Cuba represents a market of $700 million a year. Those are pretty big
numbers for us,'' Lampson said.
Officials with Farmland would not disclose the sale price for the wheat but
said it was worth $3.5 million on the open market.
Last month, the first direct commercial agricultural exports from the United
States to Cuba since 1963 -- corn and chicken parts -- arrived on the island.
Trade between the countries was extremely heavy before the U.S. government
imposed trade sanctions on Fidel Castro's government nearly 40 years ago.
Better US-Cuba Relations Predicted
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA 8 (AP) - The former U.S. diplomat who housed Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez
during part of his stay in America predicted Tuesday that Cuba-U.S. relations
would warm this year.
"My prediction for 2002, despite the events of Sept. 11 and a 40-year
history, is that we may see some dramatic breakthroughs,'' Sally Grooms Cowal
said while wrapping up a visit along with six U.S. congressmen.
"There is a real desire on the part of the government, the
entrepreneurs and the dissidents'' in Cuba for rapprochement, said Cowal,
president of the Cuba Policy Foundation and former ambassador to Trinidad and
Tobago.
Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., said he had a similar sense after his fourth
meeting in recent years with Cuban President Fidel Castro .
"This one was really distinguished by its tone,'' Delahunt said of his
delegation's Sunday night dinner with Castro. "There was a willingness to
be open, a willingness to accept opportunities.''
Both Cowal and Delahunt said contracts negotiated last month for the first
direct sales of American food to Cuba in nearly four decades have given Cuban
officials hope that improved relations are possible.
"Cuba made it happen,'' Cowal said, noting that the American law
allowing the sales was in effect for a year before Cuba used it.
Before Hurricane Michelle marched across the island in November and caused
extensive damage, Havana had refused to buy a single grain of U.S. rice under
the law because it banned American financing for the purchases.
Afterward, Havana said it would make a one-time exception to replenish its
food reserves.
Havana has toned down its anti-American rhetoric in the last month and
recently said it had no opinion of U.S. plans to house Taliban and al-Qaida
prisoners at the Navy base in Guantanamo.
Communist Cuba long has opposed the presence of the base on its soil.
The United States has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for 40 years.
President Bush has vowed not to ease the embargo until Castro replaces his
communist system with an American-style democracy.
But there has been growing congressional support to ease the sanctions and
allow hard-hit American farmers access to a new market.
Cowal was president of the Youth for Understanding International Exchange
and allowed Elian Gonzalez and his father to stay at the organization's
Washington estate for five weeks before they returned to Cuba in June 2000.
The ambassador later formed the Cuba Policy Foundation to support efforts to
ease U.S. sanctions.
US Refuses Farm Group Visit to Cuba
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON 8 (AP) - In denying a leading U.S. agribusiness group the right
to travel to Cuba, the Treasury Department has touched off complaints that it
has no fixed guidelines on who should be allowed to visit the communist island.
An Illinois-based nonprofit group, the Farm Foundation, had hoped to send
about 100 people, including two former agriculture secretaries, to Cuba last
week on a fact-finding mission.
But the Treasury Department rejected the group's license requests.
"The whole thing is entirely arbitrary,'' said Wayne Smith, a former
U.S. diplomat who believes Americans should be allowed to travel wherever they
choose. Smith served as a consultant in preparations for the trip.
The administration normally approves trips to the island that mostly involve
contacts with ordinary Cubans as opposed to government or Communist Party
officials.
With some exceptions, Americans can visit Cuba only if they are licensed by
the Treasury Department.
A Treasury Department spokeswoman declined comment on the reasons for
rejecting the proposed travel. But an administration official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said the proposal was rejected in part because the
arrangements were largely handled by Cuba's diplomatic mission in Washington.
Another concern was the size of the delegation, which included many spouses.
Beyond that, the official said, there appeared to be minimal contact
contemplated with ordinary Cubans.
The latter point was disputed by Dan Glickman, who served as agriculture
secretary during the Clinton administration.
"We were going to go to small farms to talk with Cuban workers,'' said
Glickman. Also on the list of would-be travelers was Mike Espy, President
Clinton 's first agriculture secretary.
"This was not a revolutionary group,'' said Glickman. "This is a
pretty conservative establishment-oriented group.
He noted that Cuban agriculture is a relevant concern to American farmers
because direct U.S. food sales to Cuba were legalized in 2000. The first
shipments were sent in mid-December.
"My observation is that there is no absolute standard as to what gets
approved and what doesn't,'' Glickman said.
The Bush administration believes that contact between Americans and Cubans
can foster democratic change. But it has set a higher standard than the Clinton
administration for approval of licenses. Under Clinton, licensing procedures for
students, athletes, artists and others were streamlined. Availability of flights
to the island also increased.
The administration official said efforts to reach a compromise with the Farm
Foundation were unsuccessful. The organizers were asked by the administration to
pare down the delegation from its original figure of 104. The official said an
alternate figure subsequently proposed - 98 - was still too many.
The official added that the group's primary focus was to learn about sales
opportunities in Cuba. This, he said, can only be done by talking with Cuban
officials.
But Smith said that description of the delegation's goals was too narrow.
He said the group also planned to take medicines to Cuba for distribution by
a church group. Meetings with dissidents also were planned.
The administration official said that with a little more effort, the trip
could have been approved.
Glickman agreed and said all sides share in the blame.
Foundation President Walter Armbrister said he was "perplexed and
disappointed'' over the outcome. | 
