Congress Visits Cuba

April 23-26, 2004


US Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) (Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee) led an Alliance sponsored delegation of 17 Oklahoma business leaders representing the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and Oklahoma State University on a fact finding and educational visit to Cuba. Alliance Board Members Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, Mr. Steven Ellman, Hon. David A. Straz, Jr., and Mr. James Wikert and Finance Committee Member Mr. Kevin Flynn also participated in the delegation. Delegation members met with Ricardo Alarcon, President, Cuban National Assembly; Pedro Alvarez, Chairman and CEO of Alimport, Fernando Remirez, First-Vice Minister; Fransisco Soberon, President, Cuba Central Bank and other senior Cuban officials.



April 13-16, 2004


US Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID) led an Alliance sponsored delegation of 10 Idaho business leaders and several Tampa, Florida business leaders on a fact finding and educational visit and to participate in the 2004 US-Cuba Business Conference in Havana. Pedro Alvarez, Chairman and CEO of Alimport, personally met the delegation on the tarmac of Havana's Jose Marti International Airport upon arrival.	Click to view
Congressman Otter gave keynote addresses at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the conference promoting American agricultural trade with Cuba for the benefit of the Cuban people and American farmers. Over four hundred Americans attended the conference and are legally doing business with Cuba in the agricultural sector. Click here to view images from the trip.



February 6-9, 2004


US Senator Larry E. Craig (R-ID) and US Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID) led a delegation sponsored by the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation of 15 Idaho business leaders representing the agricultural sector to the Republic of Cuba. The delegation met with senior Cuban officials Felipe Perez Roque, Cuban Foreign Minister; Pedro Alvarez, Chairman and CEO of Alimport, Cuba's agricultural import company;	Click to view
Ricardo Alarcon, President, National Assembly among others. Delegation members were given the special privilege of a private tour of Finca la Vigia, the late Ernest Hemingway's home in Cuba. During the press conference at Finca la Vigia, Senator Craig and Congressman Otter signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chairman Alvarez for Alimport to buy $10 million worth of Idaho agricultural products. The delegation had a four-hour meeting with President Fidel Castro who discussed topics ranging from the nutritional value of soy yogurt in school lunches, to salmon ladders on the Snaker River in Idaho, to the new US trade agreement with Australia. In a gesture of goodwill, Senator Craig and Congressman Otter gave President Castro several bottles of the finest Idahoan wine. President Castro reciprocated the gesture with gifts of flowers and Cuban cigars for delegation members. Upon return from Cuba, Senator Craig released a statement noting, "Our current policy towards Cuba remains a failed one, and we will continue to work to reverse it for the benefit of [Cuba and the United States]." Click here to view images from the trip.



December 12-15, 2002


The Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation sponsored a fact finding and educational trip to Cuba December 12-15, 2002 led by Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Senator Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ ret) and the former Attorney General of Arizona. Delegation members met with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Pedro Alvarez, CEO and Chairman of Alimport and had a five hour meeting with President Fidel Castro. Click here to view images from the trip.

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Mayor Greco's Historic Trip to Cuba - July 28-31, 2002


The Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation sponsored a fact finding and educational trip to Cuba, July 28-31 led by Tampa, Florida Mayor Dick Greco. The delegation visited the Latin American School of Medicine, and the William Soler Children's Hospital. The delegation met with Pedro Alvarez, Chairman and CEO, Alimport; Ernesto Senti, Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, Deputy Minister of Foreign	Click to view
Affairs; Conrado Martinez Corona, President of Havana's People's Power Provincial Assembly; Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, President of the National Assembly of People's Power; Vicki Huddlenton, American Ambassador; the Varela Project. The delegation also had a meeting with President Fidel Castro when Monsignor Higgins blessed the Cuban President in Latin, as was done during President Castro's Jesuit school days. Click here to view images.



March 15-18, 2002


The Alliance sponsored a fact-finding, educational trip to Cuba March 15-18, led by Congressman John Tanner (D-TN), including Alliance board members Dr. Ruth Cowan, Honorable Dennis DeConcini, and Mr. James C. Free. The delegation met with the Catholic Cardinal of Havana, His Excellency Jaime Ortega, as well many senior Cuban government officials. The delegation had a three-hour meeting with President Fidel Castro. President Castro and the delegation	Click to view
discussed cooperation between the United States and Cuba on the issues of drug interdiction, terrorism, and illegal migration, in light of a press statement released that morning by the Cuban government offering their assistance to the United States regarding those issues. Click here to view images from the trip.