By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. May 07,
2001. CNS News
(CNSNews.com) - Former Clinton Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy said in
Havana over the weekend that that United States should end its economic embargo
of Cuba. Espy said he can't see why the United States trades with China and
Vietnam, but not with the Castro government.
Espy headed a delegation from the U.S. Federation of Southern Cooperatives,
which represents 75 cooperatives of small farmers and credit unions and more
than 10,000 mostly black families in eleven southern states.
According to a Radio Havana report on Saturday, Espy said that trying to
isolate Cuba and keep it from participating in international trade agreements is
neither acceptable nor practical. He also said the U.S. trade ban against Cuba
has adversely affected American farmers.
Espy reportedly decried the use of food and medicine for what he called "political
purposes." He said such a practice is "a violation of the elementary
principles that should guide not only international trade but also relations
among people."
Congress last year passed legislation allowing the direct sale of American
goods to Cuba for the first time since 1961. However, the legislation barred the
U.S. government and banks from financing such sales.
President Bush has said the Cuban embargo would not be lifted as long as
Fidel Castro remains in power.
Espy, a former Mississippi congressman, served as agriculture secretary in
the Clinton administration from 1993-94. He resigned in 1994 after being charged
by federal authorities with illegally soliciting and accepting gifts from large
food producers and trying to cover up his actions. He was acquitted of those
charges in 1998.
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