Nebraska not alone in sales to Cuba

Nebraska not alone in sales to Cuba

By SCOTT BAUER and VANESSA ARRINGTON / The Associated Press
Sunday, November 13, 2005

American companies sold $259 million of food and agricultural products
to Cuba at a trade fair last week, the head of the government food
import firm Alimport said Friday.

Pedro Alvarez said Alimport expects to sign contracts worth $40 million
more by year’s end.

Nebraska farmers are among those expecting to ship products to Cuba. A
trade delegation that included Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman finalized
deals earlier this month to sell wheat, beans and soy products worth
about $27 million to the communist-run island.

Alimport also signed contracts with companies from other countries,
agreeing to buy $67 million of rice from Vietnam, $35 million of
powdered milk from New Zealand, $33 million of meat and beans from China
and $25 million of chicken from Brazil, among others.

Tight U.S. restrictions on trade with the communist-run island make
doing business with the United States a hassle, but Cuba has no plans to
halt its purchases any time soon, Alvarez said.

U.S. farmers and members of Congress representing agricultural, often
Republican, states have become some of Cuba’s top lobbyists, pushing for
normalized trade with the island.

Cuba has been under an American trade embargo for more than four
decades, but a law passed by Congress in 2000 allows American food to be
sold directly to the island on a cash basis.

Recent restrictions require Cuba to pay for the goods in full before
they leave American ports. More than 40 U.S. lawmakers signed a letter
last week calling for those restrictions to be lifted.

By year’s end, Alvarez said, Cuba plans to surpass the $474 million it
paid last year to buy American farm goods, including shipping and hefty
bank fees to send payments through third nations.

Nebraska’s governor visited Cuba in August and again at the beginning of
his month. Both time, he said last week, he met Cuban President Fidel
Castro. He revealed details of the meetings Thursday after a speech to
the Nebraska Tax Research Council.

During his August visit, the governor said, he got a phone call at 8
p.m. from a government official who said Castro wanted to meet with him
and members of the delegation. They were then taken somewhere in Havana
and led into a conference room with a long table in it.

Heineman stood with the Nebraska group at one end. Castro stood at the
other.

At 8:45 p.m., he said, Castro began to speak about his empathy for the
Cuban farmer and how his country has the best health care in the world
because it’s free.

“At 12:30 at night he’s still standing, and we’re still standing,”
Heineman said.

Castro never even paused for a drink during the discourse.

To the governor, it seemed like a test of wills. “We weren’t about to
sit down before he did.”

The meeting broke up at 1:15 a.m., at which time one of Castro’s staff
members gave Heineman a box of Cuban cigars and a bottle of rum. Knowing
that U.S. trade rules with Cuba prohibit the governor from taking the
items back to the United States, the staffer said, “Now if you’d just
change the rules, you could take these home,”

Heineman saw the long-time Cuban leader again last week.

This time Castro met with the delegation at 9 p.m. and invited them to
sit, which they did. And although Castro said he had another meeting at
11 p.m., he talked to Heineman and the delegation until 11:45.

Heineman described the meetings as “fascinating opportunities.”

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/11/13/nebraska/doc437671cedf32b666262943.txt