Yahoo! News
January 28, 2002.
Cuba sanctions said hurting US farmers
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 28 (AP) - With pressure building to open up U.S.-Cuba trade, a
leading anti-embargo group on Monday reported that U.S. farmers lose an
estimated $1.24 billion annually because of sanctions against this communist
country.
A study commissioned by the Washington-based Cuba Policy Foundation
estimated that America is missing out on up to $3.6 billion more in related
economic activity because of the 40-year-old U.S. embargo.
"Isolation has not led to reform and it's costing farmers and drug
companies that want to do business,'' said Sally Grooms Cowal, foundation
president and the former U.S. diplomat who housed Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez
during the last part of his stay in America.
"This study should encourage Congress to take some steps if only to
help out American farmers,'' Cowal said by telephone on Sunday.
Established last year, the foundation describes itself as a nonpartisan,
centrist organization that believes changing America's Cold War era policies
toward Cuba are in the U.S. national interest. Foundation leaders say ending
U.S. trade and travel restrictions could stimulate democratic reform in this
still closed society.
Grooms is among hundreds of American policy makers and business people who
have traveled to Cuba in the past month to explore possibilities for
rapprochement between the two countries, which have had no diplomatic relations
for four decades.
The recent arrival here of ships laden with American wheat, rice, corn and
poultry have whetted the appetites of Cuban officials and U.S. farm groups for
increased agricultural trade. Continuing through the end of February, the
deliveries are the first direct commercial sales of U.S. agricultural products
to Cuba in nearly four decades.
Cuba agreed to buy the American food to replenish its reserves after
Hurricane Michelle struck the island in early November. Previously, Cuban
officials had refused to buy any food under a U.S. law that went into effect in
2000, saying that restrictions on American financing were insulting.
But Cuba now says it may buy more food if it gets more encouraging signs
from Washington.
The foundation hopes the study's findings will help increase momentum on
Capitol Hill to change policies and give Cuba the signs it is looking for.
Cowal said that removing the existing U.S. ban on travel by Americans to
Cuba will be as important as easing trade policies.
"If we flood Cuba with Americans, we flood Cuba with American and
democratic values,'' said Cowal. "(Current President) George Bush has said
many times that free trade leads to democracy.''
A former career diplomat who was ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago under
President Bush 's father, Cowal noted that the U.S. government never barred
Americans from traveling to the former Soviet Union.
"I'm optimistic that Congress will vote to lift the travel ban this
year,'' said Cowal.
"If the embargo were lifted, the average American farmer would feel a
difference in his or her life within two to three years,'' the report's
co-author, C. Parr Rosson, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M
University, said in a statement that the foundation released with an advance
copy of the report.
Rossen conducted the study, "Economic Impacts of U.S. Agricultural
Exports to Cuba,'' with his colleague at Texas A&M, Flynn Adcock.
Honduras Re-Establishes Cuba Ties
By Freddy Cuevas, Associated Press Writer
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - In his last major act in office, President
Carlos Flores Facusse has re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba after a
40-year hiatus.
The action late Saturday is part of a steady, gradual erosion of U.S.
efforts to isolate the communist government of Cuban President Fidel Castro .
``In our times, no country can live alone,'' said the foreign ministry in a
brief communique announcing the restoration of relations, which took effect
immediately.
Flores Facusse, of the Liberal Party, handed over power at midday Sunday to
the National Party's Ricardo Maduro, who will remain in office for four years.
More than 45,000 people gathered at the National Stadium to watch as the
Stanford-educated Maduro was sworn in. He campaigned on a ``zero-tolerance''
crackdown on crime after the murder of his son.
Honduras broke relations with Cuba in 1961 when the island nation was
expelled from the Organization of American States.
The United States pressed governments throughout the hemisphere to isolate
Castro's government, which was veering rapidly toward socialism two years after
taking power.
Several countries in the hemisphere - and more abroad - have restored ties
with Cuba in recent years. Honduras re-established an interests section in
Havana last November.
Many Hondurans felt gratitude for Cuba's shipment of scores of doctors to
the most remote areas of the country after Hurricane Mitch hit in 1998. About
150 Cuban doctors have worked in Honduras since then, treating 1.7 million
people.
Cuba also is giving medical education to 500 Honduran students, most from
poor families.
No. 2 man claims new Us-Cuba climate
HAVANA, 26 (AP) - A new climate of cooperation reigns in Cuba-US relations,
proving that the two historical enemies are capable of getting along, Defense
Minister Raul Castro said Saturday.
Speaking with a small group of journalists after a government rally just
outside Havana, Fidel Castro 's younger brother characterized the recent wave of
visits by U.S. lawmakers and business people as ``positive.''
The visits ``have demonstrated that there can be a mutually beneficial
rapprochement, done respectfully and without interfering with anyone's internal
affairs,'' said Raul Castro, the man his brother has designated as his
successor.
Nevertheless, the younger Castro said, Cuba-U.S. relations remain
``unpredictable.''
On a separate issue, the defense minister said authorities are still working
to capture those responsible for the mass murder of five people in an apparent
highway robbery in central Cuba late last year.
``We are hoping to capture them,'' Castro said in the first public official
response to the murders in Matanzas province of a Cuban-born couple who now live
in Florida, their daughter, a grandson and a family friend.
The FBI revealed last week that Cuba had sought its help in solving the
mass murders of five people - including two Cuban-born Florida residents - late
last year.
On the subject of his older brother, the defense minister said that Fidel
Castro - who did not attend the Saturday rally - continues to work at an
``excessive'' rhythm, ``goes to sleep very late and is working a lot.'' | 
