Berry Hopeful After Cuba Trip
Berry Hopeful After Cuba Trip
By Aaron Sadler
Stephens Washington Bureau • asadler@stephensmedia.com
Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, on Monday called on Congress to ease trade barriers that limit U.S.-grown foods sold to Cuba after returning from a trip to the communist nation.
Berry and four other lawmakers spent five days in Cuba last week in conjunction with that country’s annual meeting with American agricultural producers.
Food contracts for about $118 million were signed during the meeting, which included 250 food producers and processors from across the nation, Berry said. He said more American exports could be sent to Cuba if Congress loosened trade barriers in place since the 1960s.
An embargo on food and medicine exports was lifted a few years ago, but problems remain because Cuba is required to pay for shipments in cash up front, Berry said.
Additionally, ships that dock in Cuba face a months-long ban from U.S. ports.
He said he plans to seek a legislative fix for some of the food-trade problems.
Rice is a key Cuban import. However, only a fifth of rice sent to Cuba last year was from the United States.
With its location and safe, abundant food supply, the United States should be a natural choice to meet Cuba’s food needs, Berry said.
“I think the Cuban people realize they’re going to have to depend on someone for a serious part of their food supply for a long, long time, and they’d rather get it from the U.S. than anyone else,” he said.
There should not be sanctions on food, despite Fidel Castro’s totalitarian regime, he added.
“I never thought it was legitimate with any country to withhold food from them for political reasons,” Berry said.
Camila Gallardo, spokeswoman for the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, said the anti-Castro group does not support congressional trips to Cuba for the purpose of trade negotiations.
“That kind of trip just seeks to expand the economic relationship and completely ignores the fact that Cuba continues to violate the most basic civil rights of its citizens,” Gallardo said.
Berry was joined by Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Rodney Alexander, R-La., Jack Kingston, R-Ga., and Bob Etheridge, D-N.C.
It marked Berry’s second trip to Cuba. He first visited in 2000.
