Cuba trade embargo irks U.S. farmers

[Osolomia]

December 27, 2003
BY ANITA SNOW The Associated Press

HAVANA - American farm leaders have called for an end to the U.S. trade embargo during talks this month with communist Cuba that have resulted in at nearly $110 million in new U.S. food sales to the island.

Interest by American food companies in doing more business to Cuba has grown even as the U.S. government tightens restriction on the island, including stepped-up enforcement of rules on American travel.

"Ending the embargo is the right thing to do," Iowa Agriculture Secretary Patty Judge told a news conference. She said U.S. government restrictions on travel to Cuba by most Americans should also be eliminated.

... Representing 147 agribusinesses, port authorities, supermarkets and other enterprises, the Americans traveled here for talks to mark the second anniversary of the first U.S. commercial food shipments to post-revolutionary Cuba.

... Several U.S. company representatives here said they hope to eventually invest in the island - something now strictly prohibited by trade sanctions first imposed in 1960 by the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

More...
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/Business/Story/76512.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. These big companies are definitely serious to do business with Cuba

and they've been negotiating with officials who are in place right now.

_Bush should stay out of this, and start recognizing he represents an entire country, not just politically powerful minorities, like the old Batista-styled government-supporters in Miami. That system was simply vile.

Look what they've done to Miami! Good grief. Poorest large city in the country, AGAIN, corrupt beyond belief, and notorious for election fraud going back YEARS before the 2000 pResidential Selection.

[Osolomia]

2. It's not just the big companies and farmers who've been fighting this

while so many Dems keep their heads in the sand:

Providing food for music lovers' souls
Published December 28, 2003

HAVANA · Shipments carrying tons of American food have slipped into Havana's port this year as trade between the feuding nations grows. But this month another kind of U.S. cargo arrived -- not food for the body, but for the music lover's soul.

It is a container of 27 pianos from Oakland and Brooklyn destined for conservatories across the island where pianos are ravaged by the triple threat of time, termites and humidity.

The donations represent the latest effort by Benjamin Treuhaft: Piano tuner by trade, anti-embargo activist by vocation.

In 1995 he founded Send a Piana to Havana, a New York-based organization that has shipped 237 pianos to the island, despite a $3,500 U.S. Treasury Department fine for "trading with the enemy," which Treuhaft has refused to pay.

... As part of a crackdown on illegal travel to Cuba, the Treasury Department, which enforces the U.S. trade embargo, recently has begun the first judicial proceedings against such travelers as Treuhaft who have been caught visiting the island without a license. While he has not yet been contacted for a trial, he said the crackdown will not keep him from coming to Cuba or from poking fun at pro-embargo politicians such as Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, who tightened sanctions against the island.

... Like Treuhaft, Gomez has also gotten caught up in Cold War politics. He has twice visited the United States. But in July, American authorities turned down his request to travel to a piano tuners convention in Dallas, marking his passport with a stamp that claims he is "highly dangerous to the national security of the United States," he said with a chuckle.

More...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-abauza28dec28,0,7270145.column?coll=sfla-news-col

[Judi Lynn]

4. Great article! It's terrific knowing he isn't collapsing under pressure

In the documentary, "Tuning With the Enemy" they showed Cuban "exile" Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart in some kind of belligerent reference to Treuhaft. I would LOVE to see Ben Treuhaft get the last laugh here.

Did a news search for "Treuhaft," found this article you may have already read:

(snip) Why of all the thousands of people who have traveled illegally to Cuba Burks' number came up is unclear. New York piano tuner Ben Treuhaft, an Oakland native who has openly mocked the Cuba sanctions and sent hundreds of used pianos to Cuba to replace old ones, at one point was threatened with $1.3 million in fines. He has repeatedly requested a hearing so he can use it to publicize contradictions in the policy, but never gotten one.
(snip)

(snip) Berkeley lawyer Tom Miller suggested a small but powerful group of Cuban expatriates who have helped shape U.S. policy against Fidel Castro's socialist regime is influencing Bush.
(snip)

(snip) "After the end of the year we won't have a license to take people there. I have never felt more frustrated than I do now, dealing with the Treasury Department," said Perez, who is coordinating a trip for 160 people over the new year.

"Some of the conversations we have are ridiculous, like they said no biking in Cuba because it was a tourist activity, even though everyone in Cuba rides bikes."
(snip/...)

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10671~1841101,00.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An article on Treuhaft's work from the St. Augustine Record:

(snip) With his work complete, Treuhaft and his crew will return to the United States before the pianos reach their final destinations. Nevertheless, he has been able to see the appreciation of his efforts.

"Little kids always give us a big welcome and line up to play for us. Their fingers are like little spiders going over the keys," he said.

Occasionally, Treuhaft's conversation turns to politics. After the difficulty he had starting the organization, it is easy to understand why.

In 1993, the Office of Foreign Assets Control threatened to fine and jail Treuhaft for tuning pianos while traveling in Cuba with the human rights organization Global Exchange.

To gain support for his cause, Treuhaft openly defied the government by dressing as a 1935 upright piano and flying to Cuba. The stunt received major press coverage and the government backed off.
(snip/...)

http://www.staugustine.com/stories/040502/com_618495.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All dressed up, no where to go!


Ben Treuhaft, dressed up in his piano suit, on the way to the American Interests Section, where they refused to speak with him.

[mmm]

9. That guy is awesome

That is the first I have ever heard of him.

[Judi Lynn]

11. You'd find him really interesting as you continued to learn more, too

Here's a great photo of him "tuning" in Cuba:




It's from this group of photos of some of his business history there:
&imgrefurl=http://www.harbinger.tv/sonata/fotos/stills.html&h=240&w=360&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBen%2BTreuhaft%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DG">~~~~ link ~~~~

Here's some interesting and entertaining reading:

The Mirror Piano
Once, these 88 keys plinked out the dreams of a poor American family. Can they do the same for a young music student in Cuba?
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 25, 2002


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once, these 88 keys plinked out the dreams of a poor American family. Can they do the same for a young music student in Cuba?
Sandy Garcia steps into her dark garage and flicks on the overhead light. She squeezes past a riding lawn mower and stacks of books and stops at a bulky object covered in white plastic.

She pushes the covering aside. There, coated with dust and chewed by insects, but still as solid as the man who played it, is her father's beloved upright piano. It still has the mirror on the front panel where he left it and a single broken key, like a chipped tooth in an otherwise perfect smile. Garcia taps the keys and the piano twinkles sadly, out of tune.

The mirror piano has stood mostly unused in her Lutz garage since her father, James Edward "Jimmy" Anderson, died in 1988.

Now she has a decision to make.

In a few weeks, a New York piano tuner turned political activist plans to ship 48 pianos from Port Manatee to Cuba. The idea is to buck the U.S. embargo against Cuba and support the island's young musicians, who are rich in talent but lacking in many other things, including decent pianos.
(snip/...)

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/08/25/news_pf/Floridian/The_Mirror_Piano.shtml

[ScrewyRabbit]

3. Hey, we need a new marketplace to dump US beef...

[Osolomia]

5. Typical mentality on the Democratic* underground

ignorant bigotry at every mention of Cuba with the silent complicity of the majority who ought to know better by now.

Hate to think of what lies and bullshit DUers will be spewing in the new year to defend their candidate's support for the Bush Doctrine on Cuba. Just watch!

[Mika]

6. Defending the Bush Doctrine is easy. I'll show you how..

Here ya go,


Cuba = Bad

America = Good


See how easy that is? You don't need no stinkin' facts or nuttin'




Only ONE candidate for US president
openly states that he would end this
unjust and insane policy against Cuba
AND Americans.

That candidate is Dennis Kucinich.

-The Democratic Presidential Candidates on Cuba-
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/Misc/prez-candidates1.htm

.

[Osolomia]

7. Evidently it's very easy to fool stupid Americans, election after election

So long as Dems keep clinging to the lies and bullshit to justify their very own foreign policy of sanctions and ‘regime change’ in Cuba etc. then they’re no different than the Bushistas and freepers.

So long as the Bush Doctrine of right wing pro-war bigotry is what the Democratic Party wants then what choice is there? Why vote second rate?

Here’s hoping Dems come to there senses and act democratically before they blow it bigtime.

[mmm]

8. Simple answer: support Kucinich

[Judi Lynn]

10. You remember for a while we were able to see paintings, etc. from Cuba

Bush is slamming that door shut, too:

The Art of Isolation: Cuba's Very Late Modernists

By Jessica Dawson
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, December 27, 2003; Page C01


The artworks Clyde Hensley adores can't be bought in the famous art galleries of New York, Los Angeles or London. Instead, he has had to travel to tiny, far-flung towns in eastern Cuba.

These days, though, that's a problem.

Hensley, whose collection is on display at Washington's Meridian International Center, has been importing Cuban artworks during sanctioned trips to the island for nearly 10 years. His license to do so has expired. And now, because of Bush administration crackdowns on cultural travel to Cuba, he may well be turned down when he reapplies. (snip)

(snip) Since spring, the ping-pong match between the Bush administration and Congress over Cuban travel issues has left arts enthusiasts with a sore neck. Eisenhower-era laws prohibited spending U.S. dollars in Cuba. Only a select group of journalists, scholars, diplomats and humanitarians were eligible for Treasury Department-issued licenses allowing such spending. During the Clinton era, a provision allowing educationally based "people to people" travel added a new category of license. And it's that provision that's currently under fire from the Bush administration. (snip)

(snip) How does Hensley see the future of Cuban-American exchange?

"It looks like Johnny Cash's closet -- dark," he says.
(snip/...)

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I33448-2003Dec26L
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33482-2003Dec26.html

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[robcon]

13. This is hardly latest breaking news.

Farmers have been eager to trade with Cuba for decades. It's long past time for the U.S. to do it.

As far as the despotic Castro and his fascist state, trade would be the best solution to ridding this monster from the Cuban people. The Castro apologists on this site are deluded, sticking their head in the sand about the human rights abuses that Castro has been committing for forty years. They've even deluded themselves that a political system which does not allow anyone to run unless he is approved by the local communist party cadre is "democratic."

[Osolomia]

15. Please provide a link that corroborates your claims

that's not straight out of Otto Reich's office of disinformation or else go spew your ignorant bigoted fantasies where they belong.

Ever notice that the "Castro apologists" always provide a link, thousands of them right here on DU, that corroborates what they're saying?

Evidently you refuse to read any of them. There's a word for such people but DU's rules on 'civility" forbid calling a spade a spade.

Any reader with two bits of brain in their head is capable of judging the facts for themselves.

[Mika]

19. Links? We don't need no stinkin' facts

robcon-->"They've even deluded themselves that a political system which does not allow anyone to run unless he is approved by the local communist party cadre is "democratic.""


Robcon, you've been to Cuba how many times?




http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

--

The Cuban government was reorganized (approved by popular vote) into a variant parliamentary system in 1976.

You can read a short version of the Cuban system here,
http://members.attcanada.ca/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html#Democracy

Or a long and detailed version here,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0968508405/qid=1053879619/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-8821757-1670550?v=glance&s=books

[Osolomia]

16. The "Castro apologists" picture gallery

Caution: if you cannot stand the facts then make sure that your blinders are firmly glued to your face before proceeding!

Just a very quick little sample of some of the U.S. Representatives and Senators and Governors and State Legislators and CEOs and other world leaders who have met the "monster", even had dinner with him in the past few years:

[Judi Lynn]

17. What a great idea!

As you can probably tell, there are a few people who seem to get all their news from tv, and don't do a whole lot of reading.

Laying out a few photos might aid in their education. Cool!

Here's a couple of Pedro Alverez apologists!


(HAVANA, Cuba, September 14, 2003) - From left: Senator Max Baucus; Pedro Alvarez, Cuba's top importing official; and Rep. Denny Rehberg celebrate after signing an historic $10 million agriculture sale to Cuba.

Make that DEMOCRATIC SENATOR MAX BAUCUS, and DEMOCRATIC REP. DENNY REHBERG.

[Judi Lynn]

18. I spotted Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell in your photos

She's been there several times, as a spokesperson representing several areas of Washington's well-known agricultural commerc, starting, I think, with bringing WASHINGTON APPLES to Cuba.

Here's some info. on her work toward creating a better US/Cuba conneaction:

Cantwell led a state delegation including Washington State Department of Agriculture Secretary Valoria Loveland, Washington State Potato Commission Marketing Director Shannen Bornsen, Tim McGreevy, executive director for the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Commission, Northwest Horticultural Council's Mark Powers and a half dozen others in a three-day business conference designed to hook up sellers with Cuban buyers of U.S. agricultural products.

"In putting together this program many months ago, we were very pleased Sen. Cantwell accepted our invitation," Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, said. The association was formed less than two years ago to help U.S. companies understand and know how to undertake business with Cuba, promote the full normalization of commercial relations between the United States and Cuba and provide the U.S. business community with reliable and accurate information about growing trade and investment opportunities in Cuba.

Jones credited Cantwell with creating a political environment open to changing U.S. laws restricting trade and tourism with Cuba.

"She has been a major voice in this process," he said.

Last Tuesday afternoon, Cantwell, Bornsen and Powers had just returned from meetings in Mexico City with officials of that country to try to settle a protocol agreement that would allow the importing of Washington state and U.S. fresh potatoes across the border -- a $20 million-per-year opportunity. Cantwell also wants to eliminate the high tariffs Mexico charges for apple imports.

But after that, Cantwell's attention was focused on Cuban trade.

"Last year we had a historic sale of horticultural products, the first in 40 years," Cantwell said, crediting Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Cuba's Alimport, with helping the deal go through.

"He was very significant in putting the behind the scenes together," she added.

Cantwell said U.S. trade and other restrictions against Cuba, began in the early 1960s, had the two nations "locked in a time warp" and that change was long past due.

"Unilateral economic sanctions are not the preferred way to settle political differences," she said. "This message is getting through in Washington, D.C."
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonports.org/members_only/newroundups/february2003/022703.htm

[Judi Lynn]

14. Apparently a few Americans don't read a lot about US/Cuba relations

This might help to add a little perspective, after the heavy wash of right-wing propaganda filth we've been accustomed to hearing:

MSNBC
April 13, 2000
CIA: Most Cubans loyal to homeland

Agency believes various ties to island bind the majority

By Robert Windrem
NBC NEWS PRODUCER



(snip) The CIA believes there are many reasons Cubans are content to remain in their homeland. Some don’t
want to be separated from home, family and friends. Some fear they would never be able to return, and still
others just fear change in general. Officials also say there is a reservoir of loyalty to Fidel Castro and, as in
the case of Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to the Communist Party.

U.S. officials say they no longer regard Cuba as a totalitarian state with aggressive policies toward its people,
but instead an authoritarian state, where the public can operate within certain bounds — just not push the envelope.
More important, Cuban media and Cuban culture long ago raised the banner of nationalism above that of
Marxism.
The intelligence community says the battle over Elian has presented Castro with a “unique opportunity” to
enhance that nationalism.
There is no indication, U.S. officials say, of any nascent rebellion about to spill into the streets, no great
outpouring of support for human rights activists in prison. In fact, there are fewer than 100 activists on the island
and a support group of perhaps 1,000 more, according to U.S. officials.
(snip/...)

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/cuba/loyal.htm


On edit:

I wanted to add that it's a completely cheap, nasty, underhanded trick to try to label people who are aware of the gross injustice handed to Cuban citizens through the embargo and 44 years of continual terrorism from first, CIA-connected raids on Cuba, including the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, and the ensuing decades of raids from Miami and New Jersey Cuban "exiles" which continue into the present, with the addition of their latest stunt, hiring poor mercenaries from Latin American countries to carry the bombs into Cuba FOR them, and run all the risks of being caught and tried, in their place.

Labelling Americans who are becoming aware of this history which has been withheld from us through traditional American media as "Castro lovers," "Castro humpers," "Castro's Useful Idiots," or "Castro Apologists" is simply crude and stupid. Defintely not like Democrats, to be sure.

[Mika]

20. Definitely not like Democrats?

"Labelling Americans who are becoming aware of this history which has been withheld from us through traditional American media as "Castro lovers," "Castro humpers," "Castro's Useful Idiots," or "Castro Apologists" is simply crude and stupid. Defintely not like Democrats, to be sure."



Evidently, you haven't spent much time around Florida Dems*.



* - for S Fla. politicians, having a rabid right wing anti Castro hard-on is almost a prerequisite for campaign dollars.

[Judi Lynn]

21. When in Miami, do as the gusanos!

Illuminating and accurate assessment of S. Florida "politics," Mika.

For the unititiated, a pithy comment by the late Jorge Mas Canosa, the Cuban "exile" self-appointed leader in Miami, who foresaw himself becoming the future Presisdent of Cuba:

7/1/94 7/31/94 The Miami Herald reprints an interview with Jorge Mas Canosa from the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Mas Canosa was asked by El Pais whether he believed Americans would take over Cuba if Fidel Castro fell. The Herald quoted Mas Canosa as saying, in part, "They haven't even been able to take over Miami! If we have kicked them out of here, how could they possibly take over our own country?" (MH, 7/28/94; WP, 7/28/94)
http://cuban-exile.com/doc_126-150/doc0146b.htm

[Judi Lynn]

22. American nurse's account of her person-to-person trip to Cuba

Tuesday December 30, 2003
Daily Features

Ridott nurse Denise Padfield recently visited Cuba through People to People Ambassador Program
By Stacey Dach

For The Journal-Standard

Denise Padfield, of Ridott, came away from a recent 10-day educational trip to observe Cuba's health care system with two prominent perceptions. First, Cuba's health care system is not necessarily worse or better than ours - just different. And second, the people who live in Cuba are no different than the people who reside in the United States.

The FHN Memorial Hospital cardio-pulmonary services nurse, who was surprised last March by an invitation for the trip from her nursing honor society, joined 35 others - most of whom were doctors and nurses - in the educational observance of several of Cuba's health care facilities.

Beginning on Nov. 30, the delegation visited the cities of Havana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad. Between the three cities, they toured one orthopedic hospital, one multi-specialty clinic, two family doctors' offices (one in a city and one in a rural area), one maternity home and one seminary.

Because of the current political climate between the United States and Cuba, the focus of the tour was strictly observational in nature.

"We were right in the room as they were doing procedures or counseling the patients and were included in what was going on, we just didn't have any hands-on participation," Padfield explained.
(snip/...)

http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2003/12/30/daily_features/hometown_connections/feature01.txt