POSTED: 6:08 am EDT May 29, 2007
HAVANA -- Congressman Jack Kingston of Savannah is among five U.S.
lawmakers who made an unannounced visit to Cuba.
The five appeared Monday at an agricultural trade fair during which the
communist island hopes to sign contracts for as much as $150 million in
American goods.
Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut is heading the
delegation, which plans to meet with at least one top Cuban official
before returning to the United States. That's according to Sarah
Stephens, director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the
Americas, which opposes the U.S. embargo on Cuba and helped organize the
trip.
Also in Cuba were Democratic Representatives Marion Berry of Arkansas,
Bob Etheridge of North Carolina, and Rodney Alexander of Louisiana, who,
like Kingston, is a Republican.
All are making their first trips to the island, except Berry who was
there in 2000.
DeLauro, Berry and Etheridge have all supported legislation to ease U.S.
trade restrictions toward Cuba in the past, while Kingston has supported
the embargo. The lawmakers say agriculture trade opportunities are a key
reason they went.
The trip coincides with a forum bringing together 114 food and
agricultural companies from 22 states.
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