Hundreds of Americans go to Cuba for trade show

HAVANA -- Hundreds of Americans are streaming into Cuba for the first trade show of its kind in more than four decades.

The event is stirring passion and controversy on both sides of the Florida Straits as everyone from Texas rice producers to Washington politicians debate whether to do business with the socialist nation.

Officials say 750 Americans representing 288 companies from 33 states will take part in the U.S. Food & Agribusiness Exhibition, which begins Thursday.

The state sending the most companies is Florida, where for decades many Cuban exiles have urged that the United States maintain its longtime ban on trade with the island. That alone, Cuban officials say, shows how unpopular the trade ban has become in the United States.

"Commerce doesn't hurt anyone," said Pedro Alvarez, director of Alimport, the agency that handles food and agricultural imports for the Cuban government.

Hard-line Cuban-Americans and some politicians disagree. Trading with Cuba, they say, only props up a government that denies its 11 million people of basic freedoms. They also contend that Cuba is a bad business risk.

A U.S. law passed in 2000 softened the trade ban, allowing American companies to sell food and agricultural products to Cuba.

By the end of September, total sales to Cuba will hit $140 million, Alvarez said, but the potential is much greater.

Cuba imports about $1 billion in food and agricultural products every year.