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By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Thu,
Sep. 26, 2002 in The Miami
Herald.
HAVANA - Led by a suit-wearing Fidel Castro, Cuban government officials on
Thursday welcomed American executives to an unprecedented trade fair and
encouraged them to help break apart the trade embargo that has kept the island
economically isolated for more than four decades.
Castro did not speak during the opening ceremony, but he nodded with
approval and clapped enthusiastically at Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's call for
closer relations.
''I never dreamed in my lifetime that I would stand here in the great
country of Cuba and never dreamed to see our two flags side by side,'' said
Ventura, who has been criticized by the Bush administration and by Gov. Jeb Bush
for attending the event. ''It proves to me, just like when I ran for governor of
Minnesota, that anything can happen.'' After the ceremony, Castro wandered
around the nearly 300 exhibits and sampled some of the wares. Asked by a
reporter to respond to criticisms that food purchased at the fair would never
reach the population, Castro said:
''Of course we can't prohibit a tourist from buying bread, but a part of the
goods we have been buying will be consumed by our poultry,'' he said. "Chickens,
when they are well fed, can be very productive.''
''Dozens of millions of tons of food have been distributed for free to six
million people,'' he said. "But we don't publicize that.''
Castro added that "the day the blockade ends, I will be a little
nostalgic because we have been faithful companions for 40 years.''
Pedro Alvarez Borrego, president of the government agency responsible for
foreign purchases, called exhibitors at the U.S. Food & Agribusiness
Exhibition, ''a genuine U.S. representation,'' of American commodities.
He said the trade show will help build warmer relations between Cuba and the
United States. ''We're moving as fast as possible toward normalized relations,''
Alvarez said.
Cuba already has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products
from U.S. firms since Hurricane Michelle devastated crops last year, providing a
pretext for the cash-only deals. Several more contracts were signed Thursday for
additional purchases, including 30 million eggs valued at $1.2 million, $2.5
million worth of rice, frozen chicken worth $1.4 million and apples valued at
$10,700 from the states of Massachusetts, California, Georgia and Virginia.
The government also signed a year-long $1.9 million shipping contract with
Crowley Liner Services of Jacksonville. The company was among the first to
provide cargo delivery to Cuba over the last year. Many more contracts are
expected to be signed by the time the fair ends Monday.
By the middle of next year, Cuba is expected to purchase an estimated $250
million of food and agricultural commodities, said event organizer Peter Nathan.
That could bump the island to as high as 33rd on the list of countries that
purchase agricultural and food products from U.S. companies. Cuba currently
ranks 51st of 228 countries that U.S. companies export agricultural products to.
Alvarez said the purchases thus far account for 16 percent of imports to the
island, but that is expected to double by next year.
''These numbers are being calculated conservatively,'' Alvarez said. "A
growing interest by various U.S. sectors -- including members of Congress --
will some day bring normalized trade between our two countries.''
Alvarez also recognized the recent anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, saying that Cuba renews its condemnation of the attacks. ''We send a
message of peace and friendship to the American people,'' he said.
Meanwhile, the Cuban president, surrounded by a throng of journalists and
security, strolled the aisles of the 50,000 square-foot exhibit space lined with
samples of Sara Lee desserts, Tyson chicken and various meat and other products.
Along the way, he took a sip of soy-based chocolate shake and wine.
The fair has attracted hundreds of executives and agricultural government
representatives from North Dakota, Iowa, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.
Also present at the fair Thursday were a number of Cuban dignitaries,
including Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly, and
Castro's older brother Ramón Castro, who has always been involved with
Cuban agricultural endeavors and walked around in a straw cowboy hat shaking
hands.
Participants refuted the Bush administration's contention that Cuba does not
represent a significant market for them, even as they acknowledged that
purchases from the island would make up only a small percentage of exports.
''In agriculture, a small percentage is very important,'' said Allen
Andreas, head of Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Co., primary sponsor of
the event. "From ADM's viewpoint, this is a very important market.''
Dolphin Shipping & Trading in Georgia, which already has sold $300,000
worth of eggs to Cuba, handed Castro a pair of binoculars. Castro joked that he
could eat the eggs when he didn't have any more teeth left and use the
binoculars when he begins to lose his sight.
But it was the livestock that seemed to hold his interest longest. Castro
joined the animals inside the corral, petted a shorthorn bull named ''Minnesota
Red,'' and fed a bottle to one of the young bison, commonly referred to as "American
buffaloes.''
Castro is said to be fond of buffaloes, drinking a daily cup of milk
produced by Cuba's water buffaloes. He wanted to know how old the animals were,
what they weighed and asked questions about milk production.
''Just general cow conversation,'' said Ralph Kaehler, a farm owner from St.
Charles who brought 10 animals to the fair, including pairs of pigs, dairy cows,
beef cattle, sheep and bison.
The livestock will remain in Cuba for breeding.
''We're shooting for next year, having a bunch of them -- Cuban-American
livestock,'' Kaehler said. | 
