U.S. Trade With Cuba Grows

"There's no bank in the world that would defy the U.S. Treasury," he said during a recent interview at his office in western Havana, less than a block from the shiny, mirror-like façade of the Karl Marx Theatre. "This has all of a sudden become an issue because U.S. trade with Cuba is getting higher and higher and stronger and stronger. This is the story."

Raina is the Cuba-based representative of First Caribe Trading Corp., an export agent.

What angers him and other Canadian businesspeople in Cuba is not only that U.S. trade sanctions are being imposed upon them but that the same measures are waived for American firms that now do business with Cuba.

The United States broke formal diplomatic ties with Cuba more than 40 years ago and has maintained a trade embargo against the Communist-ruled country since 1963.

But, after Hurricane Michelle ravaged the island in November 2001, Washington okayed the sale of food and medical supplies to Cuba, albeit on a cash-only basis. Since then, the United States has gone from nowhere on the list of Cuba's major trading partners to a position somewhere in the top 10.

Toronto Star

Note: Toronto Star