DORGAN AMENDMENT CLEARS COMMITTEE -- WOULD MAKE TRAVEL TO CUBA EASIER FOR THOSE MARKETING U.S. FARM PRODUCTS
Would give U.S. farmers greater access to Cuban market
Thursday, July 17, 2003
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to make it easier for Americans to sell U.S. farm products in Cuba, by loosening travel restrictions for U.S. citizens who wish to travel to Cuba to negotiate such sales.
“This is a big victory for farmers,” said U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who authored the amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill. “They need new markets for their abundant produce and this amendment will help them get one that has been consistently denied them by ideologues who want to continue fighting the Cold War even with tools that are conclusive failures.”
The amendment was supported by the American Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union.
Dorgan’s amendment would make it as easy for those selling farm products to travel to Cuba as it is now for journalists, academics and Cuban-Americans. Instead of needing specific authorization – in the form of a specific travel license from the Department of Treasury – to travel to Cuba, travel would be permitted under a general license. Those traveling to Cuba to sell food and medicine would simply have to document that they meet the criteria – namely that they are going to Cuba to sell food or medicine – rather than need to obtain a personal license.
The Bush Administration has consistently used the personal license requirement as a way to block travel to Cuba by those seeking to sell food and medicine there, denying most requests. It has also imposed fines of $10,000 and more on citizens who travel to Cuba without the license.
Most recently, in June, the U.S. – Cuba Trade and Economic Council was denied a license to travel to Cuba to host a U.S. Food and Agribusiness Exhibition in Havana. The group hosted a similar event in 2002, at which $92 million worth of U.S. farm products were sold.
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