Trade With Cuba Steadily Rising

(CBS)  By CBS News Producer Portia Siegelbaum

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"It will be the first time since 1959 that we have Nebraska great northern dry beans in Cuba," Nebraska Governor David Heineman said speaking in the Cuban capital earlier this week as he witnessed the signing of contracts for nearly $30 million of his state's agricultural products.

Heineman's presence boosted the Nebraska presence — he brought 18 people with him — at the annual Havana International Trade Fair, where over 300 representatives of dozens of American firms were doing business under an exemption to the U.S. economic and trade embargo against the island. "It's perfectly legal," he stressed.

Congress passed the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act in 2000. That opened the door to a limited and highly regulated one-way sale of U.S. food and agricultural products to Cuba. American companies must obtain licenses from the Treasury Department before they can sell to the island. The regulations specify that Cuba must pay in cash for these goods. And, the U.S. companies are not allowed to buy Cuban products for sale in the United States.

But this opening was enough to kick Cuba way up in the rankings. According to U.S. Government figures, in 2000, Cuba was at the bottom of the pile of some 200 countries in terms of agricultural purchases from the United States. By 2004, Cuba ranked 25th, having bought nearly $400 million dollars worth of goods ranging from Louisiana and Texas rice to Washington apples, to cattle from Vermont and Maine.

The economic and trade embargo on Cuba was imposed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as a way to undermine Fidel Castro's fledgling revolution. More than four decades later, the Bush Administration tightened the regulations further in an effort to topple the socialist regime still headed by Castro, now 79.

Despite the new more complicated payment rules established earlier this year, which make it harder to do business, Cuba is still buying U.S. products. The total value of the deals reached during the fair has not yet been made public.

However, Florida rancher, John Parke Wright was told by a top Cuban trade official that by noon Thursday, $190 million in contracts had been signed with American producers and suppliers. With two days of the fair still to go, he said, Alimport, the Cuban food importing firm expected the total amount to top the $200 million figure.

Gov. Heineman who promises "to do all I can for my farmers and ranchers" by pursuing the Cuban market, sidesteps questions such as whether Nebraska wouldn't benefit from a total lifting of the trade restrictions. "I don't take sides or get involved in international politics because those decisions are made by the United States President, the United States Congress and the United States State Department."

The Republican governor similarly refused to provide any details on his hour-long meeting with President Castro Tuesday evening.

Other fair participants were more outspoken on the issue. Washington lawyer and business consultant Tony Martinez decried embargo policy for working "against our own interests."

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