Ex-ambassador: Jacksonville should ready for U.S.-Cuban trade

Ex-ambassador: Jacksonville should ready for U.S.-Cuban trade
Former U.S. ambassador says Jacksonville should plan for future trade if embargo lifts.
By David Bauerlein
Story updated at 9:22 AM on Wednesday, Sep. 16, 2009

Jacksonville should prepare for a future boom in trade between the United States and Cuba because "change is in the air" regarding the decades-old embargo that has stifled interaction between the countries, a former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia said Tuesday.

V. Manuel Rocha, who is senior adviser on international business at Foley & Lardner LLP, said it's not realistic to predict how many more years the embargo will remain in place.

But he said there are changes occurring in both the U.S. and Cuba that favor the U.S. eventually lifting the embargo that dates back to the 1950s.

"There is a set of forces moving in a direction that should give you a sense that something is going to happen," Rocha said in a speech at Foley & Lardner's office in Jacksonville.

Rocha said it wouldn't necessarily be better for U.S. businesses if Cuba were to change its communist government. He said the current leadership of Cuba wants to ensure a "successor" form of government so future leaders maintain a connection with the revolution that brought the Communist Party to power.

He said that scenario would be comparable to how the U.S. has dealt with Communist Party-led China and Vietnam, whose top trading partners are the U.S.

More:
http://www.jacksonville.com/business/2009-09-16/story/ex_ambassador_jacksonville_should_ready_for_us_cuban_trade