Cuba-U.S. trade grows despite crackdown

WASHINGTON -- U.S. companies sold food worth $138.6 million to Cuba in 2002 and are on track for a 19 percent increase in sales this year, despite Fidel Castro's recent crackdown on dissidents.

While the Castro regime's behavior during the past month makes it unlikely that Congress will further relax the 42-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, it is equally unlikely that lawmakers will restrict sales of farm commodities to a nation that has rapidly become a big customer of American wheat, corn, chicken, soybeans and rice.

Congress in 2000 allowed sales of U.S. farm commodities to Cuba but limited sales to cash-only deals. That restriction has actually proved to be good for U.S. companies, said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

"Cuba is one of the safest export markets in the world for U.S. companies today, because the law requires cash-only transactions," Kavulich said. "So there is no risk to exporting products to Cuba. No other country in the world that trades to Cuba can say that."

The law imposes no limit whatsoever on the quantity or value of food and farm products that can be sold to Cuba, which became the 50th-largest farm export market for U.S. companies in 2002, up from 144th in 2001.

The promise of Cuba as an export market has won over growing numbers of congressional Republicans, particularly those from farm states where low prices and bad weather have squeezed farmers for six consecutive years.

Either U.S. or France

The free-trade Republicans joined many Democrats in arguing for ending, or at least easing, trade restrictions against Cuba. They pointed out that U.S. sanctions had failed to remove Castro from power but deprived American farmers of a potentially major customer.

"When we don't sell wheat to Cuba, France does," said Rep. Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, the state which leads the nation in wheat production. "The fallacy of unilateral embargoes, particularly for agricultural commodities, is that those products are there; they're just being sold to Cuba by somebody else."

Wheat was the No. 1 commodity sold to Cuba last year, accounting for nearly $23 million in sales. Corn followed closely at about the same amount.

During the past few weeks, the Cuban government executed three men convicted of terrorism in the attempted hijacking of a ferry filled with passengers bound for the United States, although no one was harmed in that attempt. Cuban prosecutors have also convicted 75 dissidents and imposed sentences from six to 28 years.

Castro's actions have led to harsh words from leaders of the effort in Congress to eliminate restrictions on U.S. trade and travel with Cuba, among them Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. The Southeast Missouri Republican has visited Cuba three times, pushing for more trade because rice is grown in her district.

"The latest actions by the Cuban government makes it clear that they are more interested in suppressing freedom than promoting free trade, and that is simply unacceptable," she said. "My colleagues in Congress and those in the agriculture community deeply believe that exporting our food is good policy for the Cuban people. But unless the Cuban regime reverses course, peaceful political and economic change in Cuba will be impossible to achieve."

Kavulich, of the trade council, said events of the past 30 days have prompted U.S. companies to commence "back-channel discussions with the Bush administration." Bush strongly supports the embargo and has threatened to veto any bill to weaken trade restrictions. It remains to be seen whether the recent crackdown will move business closer to White House policy, he said.

"The relationship between the U.S. and Cuba has never been about a moment; it's always been about a series of moments," Kavulich said. "The relationship is defined by peaks and valleys, and this is a valley. The question is, how wide is that valley, and how deep is that valley?"