The St. Paul Pioneer Press shocks with Castro meeting sparks vision:
HAVANA - Gov. Jesse Ventura and Cuban President Fidel Castro had a warm, personal chat Friday that was decidedly nonpolitical and left Minnesota's outgoing governor with a new idea for his public future.Mars might be a better choice for Jesse's wingnuttery. But the Castro apologists seem to be coming out of the woodwork with the refrain of "good business". Actually the "business" is outright charity to a thuggish dictator at the taxpayers expense.
He would like to be U.S. ambassador to Cuba.
Since last year, U.S. companies have been allowed to trade with Castro's government on a cash-and-carry basis; that is, Cuba must pay for American products, generally agricultural items, with cash only, but not with credit. But the new legislation will extend American export credit and export insurance to Castro's government --- both of which are funded by American taxpayers. Under the proposed policy, when Castro defaults on his purchases American taxpayers will have the burden of picking up his tab. And like the wretched farm bill that passed last spring, this legislation is good for the green triangle, but a raw deal for American taxpayers.Why not just have the government buy the agricultural products and burn them? Cuts down on the middlemen and doesn't prop up a grotesque thug.
In a July 11 letter to the House Appropriations Committee, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill wrote: "Trade by other nations with Cuba has brought no change to Cuba's despotic practices, and it has frequently proved to be an unprofitable enterprise."
Unprofitable, indeed. France, Spain, Italy and Venezuela have suspended official credits to Cuba because Castro has failed to make payments on its debt, including debt incurred on agricultural purchases. In fact, according to Powell and O'Neill's letter, two foreign governments have approached the United States to complain that Cuba's payments of cash for U.S. agricultural products have meant that they are not getting paid at all.
In international capital markets, reputation is everything. So it was little surprise when Reuters reported on July 8 that, "Direct foreign investment in Cuba plummeted to $38.9 million in 2001 from $488 million the year before." And earlier in the year, despite Castro's tantrum, Russia closed its spy facility near Havana, which will cost the Cuban government $200 million per year in foregone rent payments.
Castro's current creditors are far from happy with these circumstances, as many have not received payment on interest of principal credit since 1986. Without even counting Castro's debt to Russia, which he will not pay because he declares his debt is to a country that "no longer exists," Havana owes billions of dollars to western banks and former socialist countries.
If this is not enough evidence, the cavalry lobbying for American credits and imminent subsidies should ask the Canadians for their advice. On Aug. 7, 2002, the Montreal Gazette reported that a 15,000 ton Cuban-owned ship has been held in the port of Conakry, the Guinean capital, for the past month "while an Ontario company, armed with legal judgments, pursues Cuba for more than $3 million U.S." Guinea's Court of Appeals upheld the ship's detention, pending the payment of more than $275,000 in debt to the Ontario company.
Imagine U.S. companies chasing down Cuban cargo ships in international waters to collect payment, while American taxpayers sit on the sidelines knowing that they will pick up the bill when the debtor doesn't pay. Castro pricks America's side again.
