Jacksonville mayoral candidates divided on potential Cuba trade mission

Jacksonville mayoral candidates divided on potential Cuba trade mission
Only Bishop commits to visit "as soon as possible"
By David Bauerlein Sat, Jan 3, 2015 @ 10:51 pm | updated Sat, Jan 3,
2015 @ 11:16 pm

Bill Clinton was president, the Jacksonville Jaguars were kicking off
their debut season, and the big movie blockbuster was "Toy Story."
In 1995, City Councilman Eric Smith and a small group of business
leaders and JaxPort executives traveled to Cuba.

That's the last time a Jacksonville elected official went on a trade
mission to the island nation, which used to be one of Jacksonville's
biggest trading partners before the United States clamped an embargo on
it 50 plus years ago.

Smith, who left the City Council in 1999, said Jacksonville is long
overdue for another official trip to Cuba, particularly when other
cities are launching their own visits to forge relationships.

"Jacksonville is standing in line," he said.

So far, President Barack Obama's surprise decision in December to
normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba hasn't spurred any trip
planning. Neither JAX Chamber nor JaxPort, which identifies Cuba as a
potential market for future cargo growth, has any trips in the works.

The mayoral candidates are split over whether they would personally go
on a trade mission to Cuba.

Mayor Alvin Brown said he wants to see what Congress does to the
decades-old embargo. Challenger Lenny Curry said flatly he won't go.

City Councilman Bill Bishop said he would visit Cuba "as soon as
possible," calling it inevitable that the embargo will come to an end at
some point.

He said Jacksonville needs to forge contacts with Cuba to be prepared
for when the embargo ends.

"One of the things I've always said is Jacksonville must reach out to
the world and capitalize on the opportunities that are out there,"
Bishop said. "We are in a global market. We're a port city. The way
international trade works is you have to go places; you have to meet
people; you have to establish relationships."

He said he would want to make sure all aspects of trip to Cuba are legal
before going, and it should be a trip with "some end games in mind."

"I think it needs to be part of a very concerted business strategy," he
said.

Brown has said if the United States ends its embargo on Cuba,
Jacksonville should move aggressively to be gateway port for cargo to
the island.

Brown has made international trade part of his economic development
strategy, saying Jacksonville lags the rest of the country in selling
goods and services overseas.

Brown said it's too early to say whether he would go to Cuba on a trade
mission.

"I have to see what the [national] policy is, what the outcome is, if
the embargo is ended, if it's lifted," he said.

Curry said in a statement he "would not travel to Cuba, and I am
disappointed that Alvin Brown and Barack Obama want to help prop up a
regime that for decades has brutalized its own people. The Cuban people
deserve policies that expand freedom and liberty, not tyrannical
dictators who get rich while they suffer."

Some other Florida cities have sought to establish ties with Cuba.

Tampa International Airport started direct flights to Cuba in 2011. The
Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce went to Cuba in summer 2013 for a
cultural trip. A delegation from Orlando made a similar "taste of Cuba"
trip in October.

After Obama's announcement about easing trade and travel restrictions,
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a bay area Democrat, said she will convene a
community forum on how the Tampa Bay area can take advantage of
normalized relations in the area of travel, trade and cultural exchanges.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman plans to visit Cuba, telling the
Tampa Tribune, "There will now be greater opportunities for commerce
based on what the president outlined, and I want St. Petersburg to be
part of it."

Travel to Cuba would be easier than it was in 1995, when Smith went on a
trip with five JaxPort board members and administrators who met with
counterparts at the port of Havana.

That trip got some unwanted attention when JaxPort paid a $20,000 fine
to settle the federal government's finding that the group spent money in
Cuba without getting prior approval for the expenditures.

Smith said Jacksonville officials have already waited too long to go
back to Cuba.

"It's not intimidating to other port cities," he said. "We need to be on
this right now. It's not a matter of 'if,' it's a matter of 'when' Cuba
opens up."

Crowley Maritime, which is headquartered in Jacksonville, already ships
cargo to Cuba, primarily using Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.

JaxPort spokeswoman Nancy Rubin said the port authority will "continue
to work with our partners to broaden and deepen key relationships" in Cuba.

Compared to Miami and Tampa, Jacksonville has a much small number of
people with Cuban heritage. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, about
7,000 lived in the city, which is just under 1 percent of the total
population.

But the events unfolding in Cuba are being closely watched by
Jacksonville residents with family ties to it.

Gerry Sanchez fled in 1962 when he was 13, and he was a strong supporter
of the embargo for years.

But he said after returning for the first time 15 years ago to see his
father and then visiting twice more in the past five years, he thinks
the embargo should be lifted because the "people of Cuba were the ones
suffering," not the Cuban regime.

"Tyrannies have to have an outside excuse for their ineptitude, and the
embargo has been a great excuse for their communist ineptitude," he said.

He said a "free exchange of ideas" will make it harder for the next
generation of Cuban leaders after the Castros to continue repressive
policies. He said Jacksonville "should be a really big player" in future
trade between the United States and Cuba, and he would support a
Jacksonville delegation led by the mayor going to Cuba while preparing
for the end of the embargo.

"Being in Florida, the relationships are easier to make than for folks
in Georgia and Charleston or wherever, and they [JaxPort] already have a
lot of shipments to the Caribbean," he said.

Alicia Salvador Burst, who came to the U.S. as part of the Operation
Peter Pan exodus of children whose parents flew them out of Cuba, is
deeply doubtful about whether freer trade will bring rights to the Cuban
people.

She said she's not sure whether she would support or oppose a
Jacksonville mayor going to Cuba.

"Everybody is looking at what the opportunities are going to be, and
there's nothing wrong with that," she said. "That's what this country is
all about — taking advantage of opportunities and improving our lives.
But what is it going to do for Cuba? I don't think it's going to do
anything for Cuba.

"I would love to go to Cuba," she said, "but I have this fundamental
thing in my heart that I don't want to take my hard-earned money over
there to feed that regime."

Source: Jacksonville mayoral candidates divided on potential Cuba trade
mission | jacksonville.com -
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-01-03/story/jacksonville-mayoral-candidates-split-potential-trade-trips-cuba-other