NAACP- Cuba to buy food from black U.S. farmers

HAVANA -- Cuba agreed to buy food from black American farmers under a U.S. law that allows direct sales of farm products to the island, an NAACP delegation announced Friday.

The U.S. law passed in 2000 chips away at the U.S. embargo imposed in the early 1960s after Castro took power. Since Cuba started taking advantage of the law a year ago, it has purchased more than $200 million worth of American food in cash, much of it from large agribusiness corporations. Black farmers, most of whom have small operations, also are interested in finding new markets.

"This is a historic announcement and one that I personally find very heartening," said Kweisi Mfume, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.