By Anita Snow, .c The Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) - While the world focused on the fate of a 6-year-old Cuban boy, a slow warming in U.S.-Cuban trade relations was quietly underway today as exhibitors set up the first American trade show in communist Cuba in nearly four decades.
The U.S. Healthcare Exhibition, opening this morning, is the latest in a series of small steps made in U.S.-Cuban relations since January 1999, when President Clinton announced plans to increase contact between Americans and Cubans.
More than 100 American companies were participating in the exhibition, all of which have an ``interest in the future,'' said Peter W. Nathan, president of exhibit organizer PWN Exhibicion LLC, a company based in Westport, Conn.
``There's a market there. They want to be here when relations are normalized,'' he said.
Since Clinton announced measures to increase ``people-to-people'' contact, Cuba has seen a significant increase in visits by American lawmakers, business people, students and athletes.
Despite the international custody battle over Elian Gonzalez - the boy rescued off the coast of Florida in November - Cuba-U.S. relations have actually improved over the past year. The debate over whether Elian should be with his father on the island or with his relatives in Miami is more a
dispute between Cubans on the island and in the United States than a clash between two governments.
In the last week, Oregon high school students held a debate with Cuban students, the baseball team from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., traveled here for a game with a Cuban team, and more than 600 college students from the University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea arrived on a
cruise ship.
Other notable visitors over the past year included the Baltimore Orioles, who played the Cuban national team, and Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who met with President Fidel Castro and spoke out against the U.S. trade embargo.
``These may be small steps, but I think that they help normalize relations,'' said Nathan, who has organized similar trade shows in the former Soviet Union and communist China.
The trade embargo against Cuba, in effect since the early 1960s, remains unchanged. But the American government has increasingly granted companies licenses to sell medicine and healthcare products to Cuba, business experts say.
There also have been increased moves by some members of Congress to lift restrictions in U.S. sales of both medicine and food to Cuba. So far, those efforts have failed to receive full congressional approval.
U.S. officials say that since 1992, between 40 and 50 licenses have been granted to American companies to sell medicines and medical supplies in Cuba, and that only a handful of requests have been turned down.
The U.S. government says $19 million worth of American medical sales to Cuba were licensed in 1998, and another $26 million were licensed in the first half of 1999.
Actual sales, however, were much lower. While Cuban officials complain the Americans have rules that scare away sellers, U.S. officials say they believe financially pressed Cuba won't be able to come up with the money to complete the sales.
During this week's exhibition, which ends Saturday, products ranging from pharmaceuticals to hospital beds to X-ray machines will be shown. The U.S. license granted for the event will allow the exhibitors to sell products to the Cuban government during or after the show.
Afterward, 90 percent of the products will be donated to the Cuban government, Nathan said.
Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. is lead sponsor and will exhibit vitamins and food supplements. Eastman Kodak will show imaging devices, and Eli Lilly will exhibit pharmaceuticals.
The last such U.S. trade show on the island was held in 1960 for American travel agents.
AP-NY-01-25-00 0254EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. |