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THE UNITED STATES BLOCKADE
“We are only hurting ourselves with
our policy on Cuba”
• U.S. Congressman Jerry
Moran, introducing a bill into the House of
Representatives backed by the American Farm Bureau
Federation to ease restrictions on food exports to
the island, in reference to an important market
shrunken by “the actions of our own government”
BY GABRIEL MOLINA
SEVERAL U.S. Congress members are
proposing to cut restrictions on food sales to Cuba
and allow transactions between banks in the two
countries, according to legislation proposed in
Washington. With the current U.S. policy, “we are
only hurting ourselves,” stated U.S. Representative
Jerry Moran, a Republican.
The bill, introduced by Moran on
February 16, is supported by Democrats Mike Ross and
Stephanie Herseth, and Republican Jo Ann Emerson.
The American Farm Bureau
Federation (AFBF) expressed its support for the
bill, which it says has a strong potential for
increasing food sales to Cuba.
“There are
considerable restrictions placed on U.S.
agricultural sales to Cuba which impede our
marketing efforts and sales to that country,” said
AFBF President Bob Stallman. “This legislation would
remove those costly barriers.” Last year, more than
$350 million in agricultural exports was purchased
by Cuba.
“AFBF will continue its work
with Congress to pass legislation to eliminate these
costly restrictions on agricultural sales to Cuba,”
said Stallman. “Such restrictions adversely affect
markets and are an inappropriate tool for the
implementation of foreign policy.”
If approved, the bill would order
the State Department to authorize travel by
agricultural producers to Cuba; temporary visas for
Cuban buyers of agricultural products and direct
transactions between banks in Cuba and the United
States.
In early January, Democratic
Congressman Bill Delahunt and other legislators
presented separate legislation for reducing
restrictions on travel to Cuba by Cuban-Americans;
that bill is awaiting discussion.
According to measures implemented
by the government of President George W. Bush in
2004, Cuban-born U.S. citizens may visit their
families on the island just once every three years.
With respect to food sales, the
bill H.R. 1026, called the Agricultural Export
Facilitation Act of 2007, would remove barriers to
present and future sales of agricultural products to
Cuba.
“Cuba is an important market for
U.S. agriculture, as well as for manufacturers and
distributors of food products,” Moran said. “But the
actions of our own government have created a climate
of uncertainty and have inhibited the sale of
agricultural goods. Our unreliable and uncertain
trade policies are sending the signal to Cuba that
it is easier to purchase its products elsewhere. We
are only hurting ourselves,” he said.
After the limited openings
provided by the passing of H.R. 4461 in the year
2000 — the first opportunity for Cuba to buy U.S.
foodstuffs since 1959, paying upfront in cash — a
series of new restrictions in 2005 — demanded by the
mafia in Miami and implemented by Bush to aid in his
reelection — considerably reduced those openings for
trade between the two nations.
The latest bill proposed for
getting around these difficulties is aimed at
eliminating delays and denials for U.S. government
“licenses” (permission) to travel to Cuba, and
allowing Cuban banks to send money directly to U.S.
banks, making it possible for these transactions to
be done in hours, without unnecessary red tape. It
also would allow Cuban officials to obtain visas for
visiting U.S. exporters and carrying out sanitary
and phytosanitary inspections at U.S. facilities.
According to congressional
sources, the proposed legislation now has better
possibilities of being passed given that the
Democrats now hold a majority in Congress after the
most recent mid-term elections.
However, Bush’s secretary of
commerce, Cuban-American Carlos Gutiérrez, hurried
to reiterate that the administration opposes the
above-mentioned and any other legislation benefiting
Cuba proposed since the beginning of the year.
The congress members who want
normalization of relations say that it would benefit
both countries, emphasizing that it is genuinely in
the interest of the United States. They point out
that in the last six years Cuba has purchased $1.6
billion in products via contracts with companies in
35 of the 50 U.S. states. The immense possibilities
have caught the interest of 4,300 companies in 45
states.
The measures aimed at normalizing
relations between the two countries, something that
is increasingly favored by U.S. public opinion, have
been passionately sabotaged since the year 2000 by
extreme right-wing elements in Washington and
fundamentalists in Miami who are afraid of losing
their illicit mode of self-enrichment.
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