Cuba Requires U.S. Firms to Lobby For End to Embargo in Exchange for Trade Deals
Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister has confirmed that the Government of Cuba is now requiring U.S. companies selling agricultural products to Cuba that they will agree to lobby Congress to lift the U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba.
For example, the Indiana Farm Bureau has recently signed a ''memorandum of understanding'' with the Government of Cuba that provides that the the bureau will agree to lobby Cuba's interest on Capitol Hill if Cuba agrees to buy $15 million in soybeans, cattle, pork, poultry, corn and eggs from Indiana farmers.
Cuba has recently stepped up their purchases of U.S. agricultural products. Since December 2001, Cuba has spent more than $300 million buying agricultural and food products from U.S. companies. Sales in 2003 are expected to be nearly 50 percent higher than in 2002.
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
