The Miami Herald.
Tuesday, October 30, 2001.
Guyana to receive 350 scholarships from Cuba
GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- (AP) -- Cuba will give 350 scholarships to Guyanese
students over the next five years, Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo says.
Jagdeo had just returned from a three-day state trip to Havana. Guyana has
had diplomatic ties with Cuba since 1972, but Jagdeo is the first leader from
the South American country to visit Cuba in 15 years.
Cuban President Fidel Castro committed to providing 100 scholarships next
year and the remaining 250 over the remainder of the five years, Jagdeo said
Monday.
"Human resources development is key for our country and I am hoping
that we can get some students from all the hinterland areas to go on these
scholarships so that they can come and go back to their communities,'' Jagdeo
said.
Details of the scholarship program will be worked out when the Guyana-Cuba
Joint Commission meets in Havana next month, he said.
Going against the grain
U.S. rice rep shows samples at Cuba show
By Anita Snow . Associated Press
HAVANA -- American rice executive Marvin Lehrer lugged duffel bags stuffed
with about 300 pounds of rice onto his flight to show his products at this
week's International Trade Fair of Havana, Cuba's most important annual trade
show.
"You should have seen me at the airport in Miami,'' Lehrer chuckled
shortly after the fair just outside the capital opened Sunday afternoon. "It
was wild.''
Cold War-era trade restrictions made it impossible to ship the rice from the
United States to Cuba by more traditional methods. So he had to bring it with
him.
He said that at Miami International Airport, he needed a couple of luggage
carts and several luggage handlers to lend a hand getting his rice aboard the
charter flight.
Once in Cuba, he had to have it all opened at customs, and both customs and
health department officials had to give the rice a look before they zipped the
bags back up and sent him on his way.
At the fair site, health officials had to look at the rice again to make
sure it was safe to show, he said.
Now, the boxes and bags of grains produced by Riceland and Uncle Ben's are
displayed at the federation's booth at the fair, making Lehrer a pioneer in a
low-key but steady campaign by American agribusiness to sow seeds for future
business with Cuba.
While U.S. lawmakers and the rest of the country are distracted by the new
war on terrorism, American business is making quiet, modest progress toward
opening doors to trade with the communist island.
The USA Rice Federation booth at the fair represents the first time any
American agribusiness has participated in Cuba's annual trade show, which this
year brings together 1,650 companies from more than 60 countries.
The rice federation came here with the U.S. government's blessing.
In another small step toward a trade opening, Continental Airlines announced
this month it will dedicate one aircraft to provide 20 additional weekly charter
flights to Cuba. The flights on the Boeing 737 are approved by the U.S.
government and will begin later this week. Most will originate from Miami.
Only people with permission from the U.S. government can take the charter
flights, including American journalists, humanitarian workers, academic
researchers and some Cuban-Americans.
Nevertheless, the additional charter flights -- like Riceland's presence at
the trade show -- are wedges in the door to U.S.-Cuba trade that could give
those companies an edge if and when the door swings open.
Until then, the progress has been limited, bogged down by politics on both
sides of the Florida Straits.
Creating a small opening in the four-decade American trade embargo with
Cuba, Congress last year legalized sales of food to the communist island for the
first time in 40 years.
Despite the new law, the Cuban government has vowed not to buy "a
single gram'' of American food unless Washington does more to loosen or do away
with the trade restrictions. Havana says financing restrictions that accompanied
the new law made its purchase of American food virtually impossible.
Lehrer and his colleague Terry L. Harris, vice president of marketing for
Riceland Foods, of Stuttgart, Ark., don't seem discouraged.
They said they know that developing business relationships can take time, so
they are working to make the contacts needed if and when the Cuban government
changes its mind.
"The Cubans are very interested in equal trade relations, and so are
we,'' said Harris. "This is a first step.''
If the Cuban government eventually does decide to buy U.S.-produced
foodstuffs, American rice producers and other agribusiness could stand to make a
tidy profit.
Cuba was the United States' largest foreign market for rice and other
agricultural produce before the imposition of the U.S. trade embargo following
the 1959 Cuban revolution.
The potential Cuban market for rice is as much as 600,000 metric tons of
rice annually, most of which comes from Asia.
'Cubantime' at Barnes & Noble
Photographer C.M. Guerrero and writer Giselle Balido discuss 'Cubantime' at
7 p.m. Wednesday at Barnes & Noble, 152 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables.
They also appear at the Miami Book Fair International at noon Nov. 18 in
Room 3208-9 at Miami-Dade Community College's downtown campus, 300 NE Second Ave
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
