Archive for the ‘Commerce’ Category
Dairy Farmers Support End of Travel & Export Restrictions
Congressman Jerry Moran of Kansas is co-sponsoring legislation he to open Cuba markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers. Dairy farmers are supportive of the legislation according to the CattleNetwork:
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) applauded yesterday’s introduction of a House bill that would allow for open travel for all Americans to Cuba and further facilitate U.S. agricultural exports to that nation.
The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (H.R. 4645) was offered by House Agriculture Committee Chairman, Collin Peterson, and is currently co-sponsored by 33 other Members of Congress, including Representatives Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri.
The NMPF also sees the value of ending travel restrictions to Cuba:
The other critical element that H.R. 4645 would tackle is to abolish restrictions on Americans’ rights to travel to Cuba. This would facilitate U.S. exporters’ ability to conduct business with Cuba, spurring greater demand for U.S. agricultural products.
“This bill would help to address administrative and technical barriers to U.S. dairy exports to Cuba that are not in keeping with the original spirit and intent of Congress when it determined that we should be able to export agricultural products to Cuba roughly ten years ago,” said Tom Suber, President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “The Cuban market holds significant promise for U.S. dairy exporters but has become increasingly difficult to supply within the past few years.”
South Floridian Travel to Cuba Sees Growth
South Floridians are traveling to Cuba on a more frequent basis. According to the Miami Herald:
Between April and June, about 55,000 people traveled to Cuba, compared to 30,000 in the three previous months, before the restrictions were lifted. The number of travelers is expected to hit 200,000 by year’s end, about double the yearly figures during the Bush restrictions. And travel executives expect the numbers to spike even higher now that new rules announced by the Obama administration — which lift all restrictions on family visits to Cuba — have taken effect.
Poor Cuban Economy Forces Changes
Raul Castro today announced today that the Cuban Government would be looking at “adjustment to expenditures” as the worldwide economy continues to sputter. According to Reuters:
Raul Castro said Cuban ministers will meet on Tuesday to consider revising spending plans for the rest of the year because “of the effects of the world economic crisis on our economy.” In particular, he said there has been a “significant reduction in export income and additional restrictions to access external financing sources.”
A recent government report said imports are expected to plummet 22.2 percent, or some $3.4 billion in 2009, while exports will decline by $500 million. In response, the cash-short government has taken belt-tightening measures such as scheduled blackouts to save energy, selected factory shutdowns, public transport reductions, spending cuts and the freezing of foreign business bank accounts.
Considering Cuba has some of the most fertile agricultural land in the world and it still imports 60% of its food, Raul has made at least one-step in the right direction:
But his only major reform so far has been in agriculture, where he launched a program to let private farmers cultivate unused state land.
He said that of 110,000 applications for land, 82,000 have been granted. More needs to be done to advance the land plan so Cuba can increase food production and cut import costs, he said.
Now is the time for the Cuban government to grant human rights to its people, open the political process and bring their country into the modern era.
Frank & Ernest take on Cuba Policy
Great comic, This was passed on to me by my friend at Space Coast Eco.
Cuba Trade Expo Highlights Opportunities of Lifting Embargo
At the Cuban Trade Expo last week attendees spirits were high as the Obama administration appears to be moving in the right direction. According to Tampa Bay Business Journal:
There is wide speculation that Obama will issue an executive order in the near future that will lift all travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans, said Tessie Aral, whose company, ABC Charters, is one of a handful in the U.S. licensed to transport travelers to Cuba. Even so, Aral estimates that her business would improve up to 50 percent now that Obama has taken the first step to ease travel restrictions.
Commerce continues to grow with Cuba, however exports would grow further if the US ends draconian regulation:
Under current rules, the United States is allowed to export some food to Cuba. The value of U.S. exports to the island has grown steadily every year, starting at zero in 2000 and growing to $690 million last year, said William Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of Florida. But, growth in U.S. exports to Cuba is being held back by hard-line rules that prevent U.S. shippers from offering credit to Cuban importers.
Ending the Cuban Embargo Would Benefit U.S. Economy - Florida Helped Most
For the first time in nearly fifty years the United States has an opportunity to normalize relations with Cuba. The inauguration of President Barack Obama offers the chance for a clean break with the policies that have separated the U.S. from our closest Caribbean neighbor.
Good for the U.S. Economy
Many U.S. business groups have been advocating the end of the embargo as well. The groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation, Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation and Grocery Manufacturers Association have called for an end to the embargo. Currently only certain agricultural and medical products are exempt from the embargo.
The U.S. economy will be greatly affected by ending the Cuban embargo in a very positive way. At a time when the U.S. economy needs it most, we would enter the nearby market of Cuba that has nearly 11.5 million people and nearly 43,000 square miles.
Fifty years of Communism has taken a toll on Cuba. Buildings are deteriorating to unsafe levels, roads and bridges are crumbling and access to basic goods and services have all but disappeared. The Cuban people are clamoring for change and a better life and the United States has the ability to deliver it.
Our recession battered construction industries would also benefit greatly as engineers, carpenters and skilled laborers could help the Cuban people rebuild their country. Building supply industries would start manufacturing again and natural resources would be consumed.
The European Union has already ended their embargo and recently the United Nations, in a 183-3 vote, called for an end to the embargo worldwide.
Travel industry segments such as cruise lines and airlines would prosper as tourists explored this beautiful country. Cuban Ports and airports would be rebuilt, hotels constructed, all with the help of U.S. industries.
Florida Would Benefit Most
The state of Florida may have the most to gain from ending the Cuban embargo. The southern most point of the U.S., Key West, Florida is within a hundred miles of Cuba. Florida’s ports would benefit from the large amounts of cargo that would be shipped to Cuba. The ports would also benefit as many early travelers to Cuba would opt to cruise there since hotel facilities do not yet exist to accommodate tourists bound for this new destination.
Florida businesses would also profit from a new tourist destination as close as Cuba. Tourists would demand the same quality of food, luxury and even those little bars of soap not available there on a large scale. As Cuban citizens became aware of and demanded American products, Florida based distribution companies would be available to fill the need.
Long term, Florida would benefit as International tourist used it as a gateway to Cuba. Currently many International travelers visit Cuba via Mexico and Canada. Trendy cities like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando would reap tourism dollars as international visitors looking for exciting destinations extended their vacations in Florida.
Good Foreign Policy
Politically, ending the Cuban embargo just makes sense, Russia is looking to Cuba to establish a Caribbean presence. Since the demise of the old Soviet Empire, Russian influence in Cuba has waned. But in December of 08, Russia sent three warships to visit the island nation. In January Raoul Castro visited Russia to seek trade and money. Be assured that Russia would like to expand their presence in the region and this is a great opportunity to do so.
Cuba also appears to have a large expanse of untapped oil resources. China and Venezuela would like to tie those resources up for themselves which would not only cut the U.S. market from the oil, but could create the opportunity for an Eco disaster for the Caribbean and Southeastern United States.
Opportunities for Cuba
By ending the Cuban embargo, President Obama has the opportunity to help both the Cuban and American people. By allowing U.S. travel to the island nation, Cubans can get a taste of the freedoms we as Americans take for granted. Cubans will be exposed to our fashion, music and technology which will stimulate a desire for freedom and personal wealth.
U.S. Travel to Cuba will also generate much needed dollars for the Caribbean Nation which was devastated by three hurricanes last year.
President Obama has another chance to make history by ending the embargo and promoting freedom, however this window of opportunity won’t be open forever.
Hillary Clinton talks about Obama’s Cuba Policy
Hillary Clinton spoke yesterday at her Senate conformation hearing on Obama’s Cuba policy, from Reuters:
“The president-elect (Barack Obama) is committed to lifting the family travel restrictions and the remittance restrictions. He believes … that Cuban-Americans are the best ambassadors for democracy, freedom and a free market economy.”
WSJ: Cuban Myths Will Test Obama
The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article by David Luhnow and Jose Decordoba titled “Cuban Myths Will Test Obama”. The article raised many points and myths about the Cuban Embargo I found interesting. The article reads:
If anything, many in Cuba believe Fidel Castro and his younger brother, Raul, are terrified the U.S. will scrap the embargo and take away their best public-relations tool.
I believe this is true as all dictators hate any freedom or opportunity for people to make up there own mind about anything. However, as Raul ages and Fidel becomes less of a factor, there seems to be a softening and a realization that the Cuban people are suffering. Raul may also have recent memories of Saddam Hussein’s statues being toppled in Central Baghdad and think of his own legacy.
The political costs of the embargo for the U.S. are enormous. No single issue poisons the well more for relations with Latin America. Every year, in what has become an embarrassing ritual for the U.S., an overwhelming majority of countries condemn the embargo at the United Nations. In the latest vote last November, the vote was 185-3. Only Israel and Palau joined the U.S.
And with Vladimir Putin cozying up to Latin America the political cost will continue to mount.
The election of Mr. Obama — a young black man committed to reinventing politics — poses a major challenge to Cuba. It shatters the myth cultivated by Cuba’s ruling clique that the U.S. is a racist, exploitative country. Cuba is a majority black country with few blacks in positions of power.
During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised to loosen some restrictions in U.S. policy towards Cuba, allowing Cuban Americans to send more money to their relatives and visit them with more frequency.
Barack Obama gives the Cuban people the same thing Americans now have, Hope, something we’ve both needed for a long time.
But few foresee major moves to lift the embargo. For one thing, Mr. Obama would have to risk considerable political capital to lift the embargo at a time when he has his plate full of major issues. He may have little to gain in return from the Cuban leadership, which until now has been able to muddle through thanks to billions of dollars in aid from Venezuela and credits from Iran, Russia and China.
After half a century of Cuban communism, Cubans may have to wait at least another few years for real change.
I disagree and take Obama at his word and rely on what he’s said for years. I also believe Obama is pragmatic, there’s almost nobody in his core constituency who believes in the embargo and few Republicans with the political power or even the will to stop anti-embargo legislation. Besides, the Republicans have bigger problems. There is also an economic component, many industries and even the state of Florida will benefit from trade and tourism with Cuba.
What Can You Do? Tell President-Elect Obama to End the Cuban Embargo
US Citizens have another way to let President-Elect Obama know that we’re of tired of failed policy on the Cuban Embargo by signing a petition of support for improved US-Cuban Relations.
John McAuliff is a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and leading the petition, Obama’s Cuba Opportunity.
John writes:
If official US rhetoric is now that the Cubans have to decide for themselves how their society should be organized, the conflict is between those who believe they can only do that if we force them to change in accord with our tenets of democracy and human rights and those like myself who believe they can only do so when the hostile pressures of the last fifty years and the century long proclivity to intervene are ended.
John was in the Peace Corps in Peru and spent forty years involved with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia through the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) and is currently heading the Fund for Reconciliation and Development. John visited Cuba in 1971 and has visited Cuba annually for the past decade and is working on travel as the key to normalizing diplomatic, political and trade relations with Cuba.
Can’t We Treat Cuba More Like China?
In China we promote open exchanges of commerce and travel, this openness has broken the monopoly of thinking in the communist nation. The average Chinese citizen has much more economic and political freedom than Cubans partially because of the difference between our two respective policies.
In a recent article by David Paul Appell titled As Cuba’s Regime Turns 50, How About Some Common Sense — Finally? David writes:
I started visiting Cuba a decade ago, when a Clinton-era “people-to-people” policy permitted even commercial tour operators to send groups if they could be dressed with the fig leaf of “cultural exchange” or some such. I often witnessed the inequality between foreigners and themselves grating on locals — as when entering one of Havana’s top restaurants, the Café de Oriente, and overhearing a guard muttering, “Jeez, I’d sure rather be dining on lobster instead of the crap they give us.” One friend of mine, once a Communist Party liaison within his university department, was denied entry to a resort area, Playa del Coco, while I, the “imperialist enemy,” was waved through.
Such “tourism apartheid” measures disappeared after Raúl Castro took over in early 2008, but since most Cubans are still too impoverished to take advantage, inequality remains rampant. In this context, imagine a flood of Americans — including many Spanish-speaking Latinos — mingling with locals, infecting them with uncensored information and subversive notions of democracy and free markets. The winning of hearts and minds would far outweigh any financial gain to the Castro government (that hoary objection of exile hardliners and their pet politicos).