FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- John Block has recently returned from a visit to Cuba, and, where some see a political hornets' nest, he sees a potential trading partner.
"From the standpoint of our members, opening trade with Cuba would provide new export opportunities," the president of Food Distributors International here told SN after returning from a visit to the island nation that focused on food and agribusiness issues.
Block's trip to Cuba was licensed by the U.S. government and sponsored by the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs, a nonprofit organization whose mission, he explained, is to encourage trade while at the same time bringing free-market principles and democracy to other countries.
Block said he's been a member of the board of the Citizens Network for several years and has traveled to several foreign nations in that capacity, including Russia, the Ukraine, Moldava, Romania, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.
"Cuba is the group's newest endeavor," he said. "Our objective is to get in there early and encourage trade and business development."
According to Block, many FDI members from the wholesale and food-service segments already ship merchandise to other Caribbean nations, "and there are opportunities for both groups in Cuba once the doors open up. Our goal is to get in on an early wave."
Over-regulation by the government has stymied business development in Cuba, Block said, "and it makes foreign companies hesitant to invest money because it's like working in a straitjacket.
"I believe Cuba could have a good future. It has a lot going for it, but unless it gets rid of the oppressive Communist-style government and unless people are allowed more private ownership and entrepreneurial endeavors, the country is not going to progress very fast."
The delegation to Cuba included representatives of FDI, the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and seven agribusiness companies -- AGCO Corp., American Cyanamid, Archer Daniels Midland Co., Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Monsanto and Syfrett Feed Co.
During the four-day visit, the group spoke with government officials -- including the minister of trade, the minister of agriculture and various procurement officers -- and toured farms and agricultural research centers in Havana and surrounding areas. The visitors also met with an Israeli company that runs the biggest citrus plantation in Cuba, Block said.
Under the Cuban system, even a cooperative farm must sell 60% of its production to the government, Block said; while the government sells the products at government stores at relatively low prices, the farmer is able to charge higher prices for his surplus, he added.
One result of this system is rationing of meat and milk, Block said.
Consumers buying meat at the supermarket must use ration coupons, though meat is readily available at farmers' markets, "where you can buy as much as you want if you have the money," he said.
Milk is rationed "because there's not enough for everyone, and if you're over the age of 7 or very old, you don't get milk. And there aren't enough dollars to buy it from outside the country because the money is used to buy corn and soybean meal for livestock."
Most of the supermarkets Block saw in Cuba were small -- "not much more than convenience stores," he said.
However, he said, sanitary conditions at the stores and at the processing plants he toured were good. "The meat plant we saw was as clean as any I've ever seen in the United States," Block said.
Preventing expanded trade with Cuba is the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against the island nation, an embargo whose time has gone, Block said.
"This embargo business is just a waste of time," Block said. "It's been going on for 40 years, and all the while we're losing trade opportunities to other countries and missing the chance to introduce free markets and democracy in Cuba."
Cuba trades with countries all over the world, Block said, "and we're the only country sitting on the outside pretending this unilateral embargo will change Castro's ways. It's just absurd."
He said legislation has been introduced in both houses of Congress to open up trade with Cuba at all levels -- "with private companies as well as with the government."
Block said he believes "there's no question that trade will continue to open up, and within a couple of years there should be wider trade opportunities both into and out of Cuba" for sugar and cigars, "and given the climate there, they could find a market for some produce."
The plight of Elian Gonzalez, Block said, "has probably hurt the focus of our efforts to open trade because it drives a wedge between the United States and Cuba. But at the same time the situation has heightened awareness of the embargo, which might help move the debate along more quickly."
President Clinton took the first steps toward lifting the embargo a year ago when he said the United States would allow shipments of food and medicine into Cuba if the items were sold to private companies rather than the government. "The question is, how to define a private company?" Block said, "and we're still in the process of doing that.
"But there's already been a modest amount of trade with companies that buy food for the tourist trade in Cuba, including hotels, and although it's a very low level of volume, it's a beginning."
