5-30-08, 10:13 am

A trade delegation led by the Texas Department of Agriculture is in Cuba to negotiate a deal between the island country's government and agribusiness in the Lone Star state, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The Department's commissioner, Todd Staples is leading the delegation, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture's Web site. 'This is a great opportunity to build long-lasting trade relationships with Cuba,' Staples said. 'We want Texas producers to have access to this growing market and for Cubans to have the chance to enjoy the best agricultural products the world offers: Texas food and fiber.'

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas has exported well over $100 million in agricultural products to Cuba since 2000. In 2000, the Clinton administration made some exceptions on the sale of agriculture and medical supplies to Cuba, which have continued with increased scrutiny and barriers under a tightening of the blockade by the Bush administration. Additionally, the Bush administration imposed tight restrictions on family travel and money transfers back to Cuba and more denials by the US State Department of cultural and educational exchanges.

Staples said, 'This is a great occasion for two nations to work together to improve relations and what better way to do that than through food.'

The Texas delegation to Cuba comes just days after Republican nominee John McCain announced he would enforce a tough blockade against Cuba and would apply the same Bush administration restrictions on travel. McCain also criticized presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama for calling for different diplomatic relations with Cuba. In another of what has become a habit of flip-flopping, McCain appeared to reverse his own position on easing the embargo and opening a dialogue, which he had called for in his first run for the presidency in 2000.

By contrast Barack Obama told a Cuban American organization in Miami, Florida earlier this month that he would lift the tough restrictions on family travel and money transfers, to thunderous applause. He added that he would be willing to open a dialogue with Cuba, but insisted on leaving the embargo intact.

Obama's refusal to budge on the embargo issue, earned him some criticism from some staunch supporters who want a new direction in relations with Cuba. In an op-ed for The Nation this week, Progressives for Obama co-founder Tom Hayden saw Obama's stance on Cuba and Latin America on the whole as a huge step forward from the Bush administration's treatment of the hemisphere, but also as an 'evolution to the center' and suggested Obama 'is burdened with the contradictions of the liberal national security hawks.'

Politics aside, the Texas ranchers and agribusiness corporations want to do regular business with Cuba. But some of them didn't miss the chance to insult their Cuban hosts. According to the Dallas Morning News, Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke presented to Cuban host Pedro Alvarez a key chain with a 'Texas quarter.' Dierschke said, 'So when you come to Texas you can have some money to spend.'

Alvarez, however, remained polite and generous. “This is a great opportunity to renew old friendships, and what better than with Texas, a very important state with a long history in Cuba,' he reportedly responded.

--Reach Joel Wendland at