Wednesday, February 17, 2016

A refreshing sign of normal times


Trade between countries is heart of a proper functioning world. And one sign that one aspect of this function is returning to normal took place at the US Chamber of Commerce. A lobbying and trade group all too often associated with distorting politics in favor of their corporate sponsors, this time they were on the right side of history as they welcomed Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca.
Cuba’s top official for foreign investment used a historic speech before American business leaders on Tuesday to urge them to pressure lawmakers to end U.S. economic sanctions against his country, warning that their firms are losing ground to foreign competitors.

In the first address by a senior Cuban official to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in more than a half century, Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said dozens of American companies have finalized negotiations with Cuban authorities and firms to export goods there or even build products on the communist-run island, but can’t move forward because of U.S. red tape.

Malmierca praised President Barack Obama for moving in December 2014 to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, which the United States broke off Jan. 3, 1961, but added that normal economic ties must follow.

“It is important that the U.S. government has recognized the failure of the policy of trying to make change in Cuba based on economic problems created by the blockade,” Malmierca said...

Malmierca received a standing ovation from the audience of business executives after he was introduced by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez, the son of a Cuban pineapple plantation owner who fled with his family in 1960 and settled in Miami.

Gutiérrez, who headed the U.S. Commerce Department under President George W. Bush, recalled his emotional return to Cuba six months ago, his first since he left at age 6, to participate in ceremonies marking the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana on Aug. 14 last year.

“As a proud U.S. citizen born in Cuba, it became very evident to me that the love of the people, the love of the land of my birth – of my parents’ birth, of my grandparents’ birth, the land of my ancestors – that love was greater than any political differences that we could have between the two countries,” Gutiérrez said.

Gutiérrez, chairman of the recently formed U.S.-Cuba Business Council, echoed calls from the visiting Cuban officials to lift the American embargo, which would require an act of Congress.
It is long past time to end the embargo and the best way to do it is to rid the Congress of useless Republicans.

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