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La. trade visit to Cuba
angers some, encourages others
The
Advocate, Louisiana,
December 10, 2004.
By The Associated Press - Louisiana's first
trade delegation to Cuba in half a century
departs next week -- a sign the state is
benefiting from a relaxing of the United
States' economic embargo against the Communist
country.
But the fact that Louisiana has decided
to send an official mission to a trade event
usually attended by Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro has opened some old wounds in this
city, which had close ties to Cuba before
Castro seized power.
Local lawyer George Fowler, general counsel
of the Cuban American National Foundation
and Castro critic, derided the mission headed
by new Louisiana economic development secretary
Michael Olivier.
Fowler said Louisiana officials shouldn't
be making formal visits to a "terrorist
state." The U.S. State Department has
officially designated Cuba as a terrorist-supporting
country.
The Havana trip is sponsored by Alimport,
Cuba's agency in charge of food and agricultural
trade.
The conference is held each December, marking
the anniversary of the first shipment to
Cuba under new embargo rules: a 30,000-metric-ton
cargo of corn that departed from the port
of New Orleans in 2001.
New Orleans was chosen as the port of departure
because, before Castro's toppling of Fulgencio
Batista, the city was Cuba's largest trading
partner.
Castro usually attends the conference,
but it's unclear whether the Louisiana contingent
will meet with him.
Among the critics of the conference are
John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba
Trade and Economic Council, a nonprofit
clearinghouse for information on trade issues
with Cuba.
"Cuba puts pressure on U.S. businesses
to attend these meetings so the government
there can present them as increasing numbers
in opposition to U.S. policies" that
restrict trade with Cuba, Kavulich said.
"These are political events, and it
is not necessary for businesses to attend."
Kavulich cited "advocacy agreements"
Castro's regime typically urges state delegations
to sign. The agreements ask delegations
to lobby for further relaxation of the embargo
in return for business deals in Cuba.
Felipe Martinez, a deputy to Olivier and
a Cuban-American who is handling the trip's
details, said the Cuba trade delegation
is one of several to Latin American nations
already completed or planned.
American exports to Cuba are growing, with
Louisiana already benefiting from the trend.
In 2003, the most recent full year for
which statistics are available, Cuba bought
$256.9 million in agricultural products
from the United States. With that, Cuba
ranked 35th out of more than 200 U.S. export
markets.
Louisiana's deep-water ports are the departure
point for roughly half of all agricultural
products bound for Cuba.
Under changes to the U.S. embargo with
Cuba, only food and agricultural or medical
products may be traded, along with small
amounts of other commodities, such as wood
products or paper.
"Just by judging from the statistics,
it does appear that Louisiana's place in
the export of goods (to Cuba) could get
bigger," said Gene Schreiber, executive
director of the World Trade Center in New
Orleans.
At least six companies are set to accompany
Olivier to Havana. One of them, Buras Agriculture
and Specialty Feeds in Bogalusa, is a subsidiary
of Cargill Inc., the No. 2 seller to Cuba.
Martinez said an Alexandria business that
sells telephone poles, an item the Cuban
government specifically requested, plans
to send a representative.
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