The 75-minute flight carried 89 customers filling most of the Boeing 737’s 100 seats. Each paid $445 round trip, plus $2 a pound for luggage. The trip culminated a yearslong effort by airport and political leaders to win federal approval for nonstop flights to Cuba.

“There is no reason for the United States to help enrich state sponsors of terrorism,”

I guess they just don’t get it. Maybe they care less about the Cuban people than their powerful allies. Maybe they are part of the gang who wants to control Cuba’s future on their terms.

There is a good chance the marine industry would flourish with an end of travel restrictions between the US and Cuba. The Republicans are always talking about too much regulation. Now that the Republicans have taken control of Congress and Florida, why not end the travel restrictions against Cuba and get the economy moving.

The other reform allows foreign investors to lease land as long as 99 years. European Investors will be building hotels, resorts and golf courses. Of course construction workers, equipment operators, architects, building supply vendors and the like will prosper. But none of these workers or investors will be from the US or economically hard hit Florida, only 90 miles away, because we’re still in the dark ages of diplomacy.

The 25-20 vote in the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee sets the stage for a potentially blistering debate this year in both the full House and the Senate.
“We have tried isolating Cuba for more than fifty years and it has not worked,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said. “Today’s vote demonstrates that Congress is ready to change our nation’s approach on this issue.”

But Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez said, “I oppose and will filibuster any attempt to pass the bill in the Senate. The big corporate interests behind this bill couldn’t care less about whether the Cuban people are free or not – they only care about padding their profits by opening up a new market,” and “Repression is repression and dictatorships are dictatorships, no matter where they are located or whether you want to use their resorts.”

This is one of the few issues both the left and right agree on, from the US Chamber of Commerce to Jimmy Carter. Sen. Menendez is one of the few to not realize that nearly 50 years of bad policy hasn’t worked.

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.”

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.

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.

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.