TRADE WITH CUBA. FOOD SALES. HOUSE BILL H.R. 4461

TRADE WITH CUBA. FOOD SALES. HOUSE BILL H.R. 4461

NEWS RELEASE--ASSOCIATED PRESS--THE MIAMI HERALD

Washington, DC - Negotiations on the issue of agricultural sanctions lasted until almost 2am Tuesday morning in the Capitol.

U.S. sales to Iran and Cuba will not have access to any U.S. credit programs or subsidies.

In addition, any sales to Castro's Cuba are also denied private financing as well. No U.S. loans, guarantees or extensions of credit will be legal for agricultural sales to Cuba.

No exports from Cuba to the U.S. are authorized.

And most importantly under the agreement, U.S. tourism to Castro's Cuba will be explicitly prohibited by law.

Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen negotiated the agreement with the help of Chairmen Ben Gilman and Dan Burton on behalf of the anti-Castro, pro-economic pressure point of view. Bob Menendez was absolutely instrumental, through not actually in the negotiations, due to his close relationship with Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen, his hard work, and his key Leadership abilities.

"Closing off Clinton's tourism option for Castro is out most important achievement in years," said Diaz-Balart. "We are extremely pleased."

Ros-Lehtinen added: "The agreement is much better for us than current law. No credits for Castro and no tourism either."

LAWMAKERS BACK EASING CUBA EMBARGO FOR FOOD SALES

Associated Press

Congressional critics of Fidel Castro reached agreement with farm-state House members early today to allow sales of U.S. food to Cuba for the first time in nearly four decades.

The milestone deal, which was reached after a marathon 5 1/2-hour negotiating session, would bar both the federal government and U.S. banks from financing such sales.

Rep. George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican who has been pushing to ease the 38-year-old trade embargo on Cuba, said the agreement was a ``huge breakthrough for our farmers,'' noting that Cuba could get financing from another country to buy U.S. food.

But Cuban-American Rep. Ileana Ross-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said the legislation would ``make it as difficult as possible'' for such sales to take place.

``We believe that what Castro has wanted is access'' to U.S. financial markets, she said. ``He's not going to get any of that.''

The dispute over whether to weaken the 38-year-old embargo has stalled passage of an agricultural appropriations bill for a month.

A provision attached to the bill in May by the House Appropriations Committee would allow private U.S. financing of food sales to Cuba, something that would be forbidden under the agreement reached today.

The appropriations bill has yet to be approved so the existing Cuba language in it can still easily be changed.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., left the negotiations Monday night before they were over but told reporters outside the meeting room that the Republican leadership would support whatever deal the two sides reached ``within parameters.''

In addition to easing the Cuban embargo, the legislation also would prohibit the president from including food and medicine in future embargoes of other countries without congressional approval.

It was not immediately clear whether the trade provisions would be left in the agricultural bill or put in another appropriations measure, Nethercutt said: The Senate voted overwhelmingly last year to ease the Cuban embargo but the House refused to go along. Senators were not involved in negotiating today's agreement.

The issue has been complicated by election-year politics this year and the saga of Elian Gonzalez, the boy who has been the subject of a legal tug-of-war between his Florida relatives and his father in Cuba.

Some of the legislation's most ardent supporters, such as Nethercutt and Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo. face tough re-election races. Virginia Rep. Tom Davis, who leads the GOP congressional campaign effort, paid a visit to the negotiations Monday night.

House Republican Whip Tom DeLay had strongly opposed any weakening of the embargo but he had left it up to Castro critics Ross-Lehtinen and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., to negotiate a deal, aides said.

Miami Herald

Posted at 7:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, June 27, 2000

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