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US holds food show in Cuba with former pro wrestler as head

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, right, speaks to the press as Pedro Alvarez, second from left, head of the Cuban food import concern Alimport, looks on upon Ventura's arrival, in Havana Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and hundreds more Americans arrived in Cuba on the eve of a mammoth US agricultural show with the aim of whetting communist Cuba's appetite for more US food.

Ventura was set to help open the show yesterday. President Fidel Castro, who has said he will visit during the exhibition's four-day run, was also likely to appear.

The four-day US Food and Agribusiness Exhibition brings 288 exhibitors, showing off everything from livestock to Juicy Fruit chewing gum, Milky Way bars and Pedigree dog food. Many of the participants are interested in signing contracts with Cuba for additional sales of American products.

America's top diplomat to Cuba said that's fine, as long as they are on a cash basis -- not through financing.

"I think it's great to sell eggs for cash, but let's not leave US taxpayers with a big giant goose egg," James Cason, the new chief of the US Interests Section, told reporters Wednesday night after meeting with some of the American exhibitors.

"This is a Jurassic Park economy and it's no great market for the United States," Cason said, reading a prepared statement in the lobby of a major Havana hotel. He estimated the communist-run island's current foreign debt at US$11 billion and "we don't want to be in that queue."

A US law that took effect in 2000 allows for direct commercial sales of American food and other agricultural products to Cuba on a cash basis -- an exception to the 40-year trade embargo against the island.

Cuban officials hope the event helps influence US debate on ending four decades of trade sanctions against their country. Cuban officials say they intend to keep buying American food with cash, but could buy even more if they could get US financing for those deals.

Pedro Alvarez, head of the Cuban food import concern Alimport, has said he expects the show to produce "a significant number" of contracts to buy more US food and agricultural products.
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