Tampa's newest market: Cuba

Jeb must be catching plenty of flack from the anti-Cuba fanatics in South Florida--plenty of Florida businesses are jumping on board the "play your politics a$$holes, we're moving ahead away" wagon.

At the recenttHavana International Fair, out of 47 US companies, Florida had more companies there than any of the other 20 something states who attended. Drip, drip, drip.

<clips>

The first cargo ship to leave Tampa for Cuba in decades is scheduled to depart today. Its owners hope for monthly trips.

TAMPA - The 225-foot H.L. Sahlman usually attracts little notice at Tampa's port as it picks up small loads of meat and fresh produce for customers in the eastern Caribbean and South America.

But the tiny freighter was the center of attention Thursday as a crane lifted carton after carton of frozen chicken on board for a high-profile destination: the capital of Fidel Castro's Cuba.

The vessel, scheduled to leave today, will be the first to depart a public dock in Tampa for Cuba in more than four decades. And the ship's owners are prepared to make monthly trips between Tampa and Havana if they can attract enough cargo business to support it.

<http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/14/Business/Tampa_s_newest_market.shtml>

he is just going to follow the money as far as I am concerned.

That would be great, but like SmirkBoy, Jebbie is beholden to the South Florida anti-Cuba crowd.

Wow. 71 firms were represented--I was wrong--I thought it was 47.

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...FOOD SHOW

Mauricio was among representatives of 71 American firms who displayed their wares at a food show in Havana last week.

He said he hopes to start shipping fruits and vegetables to Cuba from the Port of Tampa, allowing him to save money by moving his products into town by rail instead of semi truck to other ports.

''It's time for us to take advantage of something we have not done, and that is to recognize that there is an ability for us to export more than we are out of our own port,'' Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Frank said. ``And it means we can use producers who are in the area. ...This means jobs for people and it means money in our economy.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/7257773.htm

I overheard he and another guy about his 75 foot sailboat and how he was headed to Cuba the next day. I asked him about it and he told me that he deals in art and takes medicine there. It's all legal but the regulations and paperwork are frustrating.

HE told me (as did a waitress at another place) about how great Cuba is:Nice people, clean, well educated, good healthcare, and a very proud people. He also mentioned that we totally screwed up with Castro and just because of the "C" word (communism) we forced Castro to side with the USSR just for protection from us.

He also said that the Cubans in Florida who think they are going to get their grandparents land in Cuba should give it up it won't happen. He said that the Cubans have no idea what those old Chevy's would go for if they could sell them to collectors.

I think a lot of people aren't aware that there is regular trade in some things with Cuba, all the chest thumping gets in the way of them finding that out.

Anyone who has been to Cuba will tell you exactly what these two people did--that it is exactly the opposite of what the US propaganda machine, driven by the anti-Cuba fanatics in South Florida, would have people beleive.

There's an excellent photo website that echos what your posts says. I never get tired of looking at these beautiful pix.

Peace!!

---

<clips>

When I decided to go to Cuba, everyone asked me "Why?" Most warned me, "Be Careful! It's a dangerous place!" Others were simply perplexed that I'd go to a country they thought was poverty-stricken, riddled with corrupt communists, and probably no food to eat. Few of these people actually knew anything about Cuba, but it was clear their impressions had already been established. Upon arrival, I wasn't surprised to find that everything I was warned about was entirely wrong; the people were extremely friendly, there is a rich and vibrant culture, the country's main industry is tourism (so it was very comfortable for tourists), and not once did I ever feel anything less than perfectly safe and secure. In fact, more so than anywhere else I'd ever been in the world. Yes, even with my camera equipment.

That was my impressions as a tourist. Once I got under the veneer of Havana, it was the truth that surprised me about Cuba: it's a country of paradoxes and ironies with conflicting political and economic policies; its people are resilient, warm, open and genuine, despite the clear and obvious struggles they have in daily life; and their culture is homogeneous, despite its multiracial ethnicity. One can't help but think philosophically about life in our world.

Included in this presentation are 470 images in 31 Categories. Many images have accompanying descriptions about the story behind them. While it's clear that opinions and emotions often flare over issues revolving Cuba, one thing remains undisputed among everyone: Cuba is an amazing and unique place in the world. I'm so glad I went.

http://www.danheller.com/cuba.html

But he is flying to Mexico in then to Cuba, apparently a lot of people from the US do that. It is illegal and I am not supporting it in ANY way but it seems to be widely known as the way around the law.

Mexico, and Canada. There's been a lot of discussion recently about travel to Cuba as an act of Civil Disobedience. Pastors for Peace has done it for many years--bringing medicines and supplies to the island--and not without repercussions. Activists many times join them.

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Rochester Sends Aid to Cuba, Defies U.S. Embargo
by Elaine Russell Thursday July 03, 2003 at 08:17 PM

(July 3, 2003) This morning a group of activists, organized by the Rochester Committee on Latin America (ROCLA), loaded the Pastors for Peace truck en route to Cuba with over $2000 for medicines as well as boxes of prostheses, infant medications, computers and bicycles, all donated by members of the community.

Rochester is one of 115 U.S. cities taking part in the U.S./Cuba Friendshipments organized by Pastors for Peace. This project is in its fourteenth year and has so far delivered 2,250 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. By crossing the U.S./Mexico border without government approval the caravan challenges 41-year embargo on trade and travel to Cuba by refusing to apply for special licensing required by the US government. This “people’s foriegn policy project” rejects the policies of the current administration and considers the embargo as “putting a pretty face on its genocidal policy.”

Rochester’s own Raging Grannies (www.rochesterraginggrannies.org) were present to entertain and inspire the volunteers loading the truck. To the tune of “Camptown Races” they sang:
“Bush says we can’t travel there
‘Cause THEY don’t have freedom.
But if WE’RE not free to travel there
Then what have we become?”
(words by Judy Halley and Vicki Lewin Ryder)

http://www.rochesterimc.org/news/2003/07/721_comment.php

_Bush is having his stooges in Congress bend over backwards to please his Cuban "exile" Mafia in Miami by bombing all legitimate attempts to remove the travel to Cuba ban, while our own business community is forging ahead full steam, through the narrow channels available getting great lines of commerce established.

Sure it's going to take longer, but is there any doubt the American public mean to take down the barriers?

Here's a different article on what's going on in Tampa currently as it sets up a monthly shipment to Cuba:

(snip) The 1.5 million pounds of poultry transported by Caribe Services could mark the beginning of the first regular Tampa-to-Cuba cargo shipments since the United States installed a trade embargo more than four decades ago, said Daniel J. Fernandez, president of U.S.-Cuba Trade Consultants.

Cuba has bought more than $460 million in American goods in the two years since a law legalized the direct sales of farm products to the communist nation. Most of those shipments originated from other ports, including Jacksonville and Gulfport, Miss.

"This venture will represent the first time Tampa's federal waterways will be consistently used to transport commodities (to Cuba) in over 42 years," Fernandez said Thursday as a crane moved the boxed cargo onto the freighter H.F. Salhman.

"That is - in my estimation - huge," he said. "And it's a beginning."

He said the monthly shipments from the government-owned Port of Tampa could have an economic impact on the area of $100,000 per month and open up the market to Tampa Bay area businesses. (snip/...)

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031113/APN/311131035

For forty years we have denied the Cuban people any access to our 'Free Markets'.

Just think how happy a Cuban child will be when he or she gets a taste of baked American chicken. We have deprived these people of our delights for forty years. Give the people a break. Anything else is anti-human.

"Just think how happy a Cuban child will be when he or she gets a taste of baked American chicken."

LOL. It will probably taste bland to them. Chickens and eggs taste better in Cuba.. they're not mass produced factory products there yet.

An interesting article concerning US agricultural interests and ships again sailing from Tampa to Cuba. Thanks for posting it.

Yet I wonder. Will Dubya's underlings attempt to sour future deals between US agricultural businesses and Cuba by pulling such cute little tricks like denying travel permits to US negociators seeking to make or firm up future business negociations?

I hope someone goes back over the history of grain sales and food shipments the US made to the old Soviet Union as well as China during the Cold War. It strikes me that Dubya and his right-wing friends are throwing far more obstacles to US deals with Cuba than their predecessors did for sales to the Soviet Union back when the USSR was a genuine threat.

Self-styled conservatives never tire of talking of "Saint Ronnie." Someone should remind them that while George Minor is trying to block US deals with Cuba, "Saint Ronnie" did sell grain to the "Evil Empire" back when he and la Nancita werein office.

US Farmers and agricultural producers ought to ask themselves if they're going to get shafted for the benefit of the exiles' vote.

What a bunch of hypocrites to the core and DUhers are deluding themselves if they think no one notices the Dems complicity with the Bush Doctrine to this day:

The Democratic presidential candidates on Cuba
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/Misc/prez-candidates1.htm

No one ever said that some Dems aren't rightwingers. ;-)



From - History Will Absolve Me - By Fidel Castro Ruz

Yes, we set out to fight for Cuba's freedom and we are not ashamed
of having done so, they declared, one by one, on the witness stand.
Then, addressing the Court with impressive courage, they denounced
the hideous crimes committed upon the bodies of our brothers.

www.freethefive.org

is just as hypocritical and complicit in this travesty of democracy then Anyone But Bush isn't any better and merely serves as a distraction from reality.

There are some Dems who aren't rightwingers.

Friday, November 14, 2003 6:06AM EST

Cuba trip brings big fine


By ANN S. KIM, Staff Writer

CARRBORO -- David Heslop knew about the travel restrictions to Cuba before he made his three trips in 2000, but the island was so appealing -- the music, the architecture, the lack of commercialization and maybe even the allure of a forbidden destination.

So he dared to go. Two trips went off without a hitch. But on the third, customs officials nabbed him and slapped him with a fine for $7,513.50.

Heslop became one of hundreds of people that the government is trying to punish for illegal travel to Cuba. Enforcement has been spotty, but now the Bush administration is cracking down.

Heslop, who oversees a technical support group at Research Triangle Institute, won't take the government up on its offer to settle for $1,100, saying it's a matter of principle.

"Restrictions on travel have always been a quality of dictatorship ... and I don't know how restrictions on travel fit in with our ideas of liberty," Heslop, 41, said. "I know that this sounds like 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' but this is so clearly wrong." (snip/...)

http://www.news-observer.com/front/story/3022744p-2764697c.html