Kentucky Women's Agricultural Delegation in Cuba Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Making Cuba Safe for American Agribusiness, Cont'd... [The economic mess George Bush has created is clashing with the political mess he has also created. He's got Congress and business clamoring for trade with Cuba, and the economic needs of a nation in decline are contradicting the desires of his right-wing cronies and his own political ambitions and those of his relatives. Farmers in the US want to market thei products in Cuba. Georgia wants to sell Cuba chickens. (See "Making Cuba Safe for American Agribusiness, May 22, NY Transfer Caribbean Newsfeed.) Kentucky is pushing soybeans and beef. Archer Daniels Midland has sent major delegations to Cuban trade fairs in the hope that they can cash in when the embargo ends. Cuba needs trading partners closer than Europe, to lower the cost of importing food items they don't produce. The embargo creates an enormous financial burden, because even though many essential items produced only in the United States (some pharmaceuticals, medical equipment such as x-Ray film, etc.) are available for sale via third-countries, Cuba can only obtain them at a huge premium. Easing US restrictions on trade with Cuba will certainly help the US economy. Easing trade restrictions will also help Cuba, but the pitfalls are many. Archer Daniels Midland has a horrible history of unsafe and unethical labor practices. US pharmaceutical companies are not that different from the international drug traffickers Cuba works hard against. Mammography machines might be needed in Cuba, but if too many poisonous American goods are available, cancer incidence might skyrocket to something approaching the rates in Puerto Rico. Cuba needs to be wary of contradictions, too. The country has, from necessity, developed a world-class independent biotechnology industry; Cuba has also become the organic farming capital of the world, with huge benefits to its environment and the health of its population. American agribusiness offers genetically modified seed crops, chickens and beef laced with hormones, antibiotics and tranquilizers. The result of trade with the USA could be a reversal of many of Cuba's environmental and biotechnical industrial advances -- and an increasingly sick, dependent, drugged population that is unable to resist US aggression or its growing addiction to synthetic Yanqui consumer trash. Perhaps the women of both countries can point the way to a constructive and healthy trading relationship.--NY Transfer] * KENTUCKY WOMEN'S AGRICULTURAL DELEGATION VISITS CUBA For Additional Information contact: Karen Armstrong-Cummings Phone: 011-537-862-8000; Fax: 011-537-862-8080 Email: KarenS7334@aol.com (Phone is: Hotel Armadones de Santander, Havana, Cuba. Leave message.) Cuba's Import Agency President to Kentucky Ag Women: "Where's the Beef? We're Ready to Buy!" HAVANA, May 22--Declaring his fascination with Kentucky's all-female agricultural delegation, Cuba's highest official managing his nation's food imports, President Pedro Alvarez Borrego, today wanted specifics on buying soybeans, poultry, eggs, beef and produce from Kentucky farmers. Debbie Ellis, Kentucky Soybean Association Director, described the Commonwealth soybean farmers' 44 million bushel production levels, while emphasizing her group's interest in sales to Cuba. Ellis discussed with Alvarez that Owensboro soybean plant owner John Wright would be arriving in Havana later this week to help finalize sales plans. Kentucky Poultry Federation's Laura John built on previous groundwork developed by her group's national affiliates, quickly responding to Alvarez's offers. "We are thrilled with the opportunity for sending our products for Cuba's open and friendly citizens. Because our National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council laid the initial groundwork, Kentucky farmers can benefit enormously. We're already working to supply Cuban officials with specifics on poultry and egg prices and availability." John and other delegation members declared their plans to educate Kentucky's Congressional delegation about the importance of normalizing relations with Cuba for Kentucky's trade potential. John expressed gratitude for Cuba's willingness to buy U.S. foodstuffs on a cash-only basis, given the restrictions on private financing on food and medicine sales to Cuba. Congress added these restrictions to the 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act. The Lexington-based Council of State Governments's Dr. Carolyn Orr discussed numerous opportunities for livestock sales to Cuba, responding to Alvarez's interests in cattle, dairy and pork. Orr emphasized that Kentucky's livestock producers are eager to market products to Cuba, where beef consumption is increasing as tourism increases. Only hours earlier, Kentucky's nine-member delegation assembled alongside somber Cuban citizens, quietly absorbing President Bush's televised Cuba statement translated into Spanish by the Havana CNN affiliate. Coming on the heels of former President Jimmy Carter's warmly received visit, Bush outlined his Cuba Initiative to include support for the island's dissidents and a continued travel ban. During his visit, the former President met with dissident leaders who unanimously opposed the US travel ban and U.S. aid to Cuba's dissidents. Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Alice Baesler led an all-female delegation through meetings with leaders in Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations, the National Association of Small Farmers, and Alimport. Each meeting's Cuban hosts firmly, but respectfully, denounced Bush's statements and outlined their plans to continue their offers of cooperation with the U.S. government. Particularly touching to the group's interests, Cuba's Director of North American Trade Policy Maria B'Hamel outlined the many similarities between Cuban people and Kentuckians. "Tobacco farming culture, small farms, rural communities, the great interest in preserving community arts and families, these are all ideas and interests we hold in common," she pointed out, underscoring to the group that women's interests cross boundaries of sea and land. B'Hamel's respectful demeanor and obvious communication skills resonated with Kentucky's all-female delegation. Her high-level position and her inclusion of other female staff in the meetings led Kentucky's group to comment on women's opportunities in a culture often characterized by the Latino machismo. Cultural arts supporter Christy Brown, owner of Louisville Stoneware and wife of Brown Forman's CEO Owsley Brown, discussed possible arts exchanges and expanded inter-faith dialogue with Cuba's religious community. But when Alvarez learned of Brown-Forman's vast offerings of renowned wines and spirits, he ordered telephones brought into the meeting for immediate purchases from Louisville. Never one to miss opportunities for promoting both culture and business, Brown described further opportunities for cultural exchanges following the phone calls she placed at Alvarez's urging. University of Louisville's Speed Museum and other Kentucky galleries could provide exhibition venues for Cuban artists' such as Lester Campa, based at Cuba's biosphere reserve, Las Terrazas, which the Kentucky delegation visited on Sunday. Dr. Bonnie Tanner and Susan G. Smith, both affiliated with the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture Extension program, described much needed increases in exchange for educational and training programs. Along with Baesler, they emphasized many common challenges and strengths between Cuba and Kentucky's quickly changing agricultural economies, rural education and health concerns and improved opportunities for women and young people. Georgetown farmer Ann Bell and Commodity Growers Cooperative's Karen Armstrong-Cummings discussed with Alvarez and B'Hamel the opportunities for purchasing farm products through the new and emerging farmer cooperatives. Armstrong-Cummings also discussed the National Farmers Union's interest in strengthening trade opportunities with Cuba and the 2005 NFU conference scheduled to be held in Lexington, Kentucky. The Kentucky Women in Agriculture's Cuba "fact finding trip" participants, whose agenda is arranged in cooperation with the Center for International Policy, will provide detailed reports and information through speeches, workshops and other presentations. Contact Alice Baesler at 502-564-4696 or Karen Armstrong-Cummings at 1-888-440-7845 for more information about the follow-up activities. The group will be leaving Cuba on Saturday, May 25, 2002. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytenv-05.23.02-02:58:37-17559