U.S.-CUBA FOOD SALES IN JEOPARDY.(due to US State Department's decision to deny travel visas to key Cuban food import officials)(Brief Article)

0 Comments | Caribbean Update, May, 2002

U.S. farmers could be hurt by the State Department's decision to deny travel visas to key Cuban food import officials who need to come to the U.S. to purchase American grain, said Sen. Pat Roberts, reports AP (April 5, 2002):

"Future sales of grain to Cuba are put in jeopardy by the decision to revoke travel visas for Cuban officials who make grain purchasing decisions," Roberts, R-Kan., wrote to Secretary of State Colin Powell. He urged Powell to reverse the decision made a week earlier by Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, to deny the visas;

Cuba has signed contracts to buy nearly US$73 million in U.S. agricultural products since last November, said Roberts, a leading congressional advocate for removing trade...