Cuba opens borders

[15444]

Apparently Cuba opened its doors to Canadian beef today as well.

http://www.news.gc.ca/cfmx/CCP/view/en/index.cfm?articleid=115989

[cowman]

Apparently Cuba pretty well threw it wide open? Good news for our industry for sure. A whole lot of tourists will be able to experience good Canadian beef.
Of course America never could trade with Cuba anyway because of their goofy ideas about Castro, so it won't affect them. I find it strange they won't trade with Cuba because they are a communist country but have absolutely no problem trading away all their misslie technology to China? The USA is a very strange country?

[gwynplaine]

I Love your rhetoric. Post more, please, cowman.

[Willowcreek]

cowman- I stole this off ranchers.net.

Cuba signs deal to buy Montana products


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Posted by Oldtimer on Dec-15-04 12:35pm


According to the radio report on the Northern Ag Network this includes cattle........

Last modified December 15, 2004 - 9:46 am



Cuba to buy $15 million in Montana products
Associated Press

BILLINGS -- Cuba has reached a new agreement to purchase $15 million in agricultural products from Montana, Sen. Max Baucus said on Wednesday.

The agreement comes after the Montana Democrat's announcement last month that Cuba had fulfilled a separate, previous pledge to purchase $10 million in such goods.

Under the earlier agreement reached in September 2003, Cuba wound up purchasing $10.4 million in wheat, dry beans and peas, Baucus said.


Baucus traveled to Cuba this week to work on the new agreement. It will be for the purchase of $15 million in agricultural goods over 18 months, Baucus spokesman Barrett Kaiser said.

[cowman]

Well thank you Willowcreek for informing me of that. I did not know that the USA was now allowed to sell agricultural products to Cuba. After doing a little research I found out that Americans can sell agricultural products and medical products to Cuba. Now I'm not sure if American companies can buy Cuban products or not?
I also learned Americans can visit Cuba on a limited basis, but they are not allowed to spend more than $67 a day!

[farmers_son]

Cowman: See: http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/cuba/cuba.html

In October 2000 the U.S. changed legislations to allow the U.S. to sell agricultural and medical exports to Cuba. The Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 was not comprehensive and some prohibitions remain. The ban on U.S. imports from Cuba was not changed by this legislation.

Willowcreek: Did you know the US has pressed (and in March 1996 passed legislation to force) enterprise in Canada to observe US boycott laws relating to Cuba? The Helms-Burton Act is a law that penalized companies doing business with Cuba. Canada and other U.S. allies say the bill oversteps international law.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/helms_burton_debate_7-11.html

You might be interested in this site on Canada/U.S./Cuban relations.
http://www.ola.bc.ca/online/cf/module-4/usrel.html#RTFToC56

[Willowcreek]

farmers son- I was not aware of the law the US forced upon Canada. Will read up on it. But anything Billy Clinton did doesn't surprise.. Some exiled rich Cuban probably promised him his sister in exchange for putting on stricter embargos. Or maybe a lifetime supply of smuggled cigars.

[kato]

For a while there the news was reporting that Canadian executives who deal in Cuba would be liable to be arrested if they travelled to the United States. Haven't heard much in the past couple of years, so don't know if it has changed or not.

[farmers_son]

Sherritt Gordon, a Canadian company, had built a smelting plant in Cuba. The U.S. took exception to this and threatened to deny executives, business managers of Sherritt Gordon and their families access to the U.S. under Title IV of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (Helms-Burton Law). Canada reacted by passing the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures (United States) Order, which made it illegal for a Canadian to comply with Helms-Burton. Sherritt-Gordon chairman Ian Delaney was declared persona non grata in the U.S., under the Helms-Burton law, making him a bit of a folk hero in Canadian business culture.

Sherritt's Cuban ventures now include oil and gas, power, soybeans, hotels and a stake in a cell phone company. In 2002 the operations made up about 30% of the company's $806 million revenue.

Helms-Burton is still in effect in the U.S. and recently the U.S. has resumed enforcement, this time against a Jamaican company. Canadian firms that plan to invest in Cuba go to great lengths to ensure that none of the property they buy once belonged to Americans.

See:http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/F-29/SOR-92-584/126857.html
http://www.soc.qc.edu/procuba/helm_law.html
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/shared/print.jsp?content=20030428_53586_53586