Ryan's trip partly reflected the desire of some U.S. capitalists, including large grain cartels, to end the embargo against Cuba so they will not lose out to companies from other countries who can legally do business in Cuba. The trip was billed as a "humanitarian mission" in order to comply with U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba. But the desire to lay the groundwork for business contacts should the embargo be lifted was openly discussed by Ryan and other members of the delegation.

Among those on the 45-person delegation that accompanied the governor was G. Allen Andreas, chairman and chief executive officer of Decatur-based agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. Officials from heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Corp., other Illinois businesses, state politicians, and religious figures also took part. Dozens of reporters traveled with the delegation.

The goal of U.S. economic policy, which Ryan shares, is to overthrow the revolution made by Cuban workers and farmers and restore the domination of U.S. capital that existed before 1959. Pushing business contacts for Illinois corporations, Ryan chided the embargo tactic, saying, "We've tried this policy for 40 years, that hasn't worked."  
 

Open hostility toward Cuban revolution

Officials from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana arranged a meeting between Ryan and several opponents of the revolution in Cuba. After the meeting, Ryan told reporters, "I don't know what they told us we didn't know. But the concern is Fidel Castro. Basically that's the problem with Cuba, Fidel Castro. Forty years of heavy communist rule under Castro has left its mark, and these people know it."  
 

Washington not about to drop embargo

Later in the trip, Ryan distanced himself somewhat from those remarks, saying, "Those were the words that came from the dissidents."

Most Illinois politicians and newspapers came out in favor of Ryan's trip. Asked how he responded to vocal critics of the trip from some Cuban-Americans in Miami, Ryan responded, "I don't represent Miami. I represent Illinois."

The discussion on the trip reflected growing debate among Cuban-Americans on the embargo. The Chicago Tribune quoted Guillermo Bauta, secretary of the Illinois Cuban-American Chamber of Commerce, as saying, "The problem is not the embargo. The problem is Fidel Castro." He called the trip a "fatal error." The Tribune also printed a letter from Cuban-American Rafael Ravelo, who commended the Illinois governor for going to Cuba and charged that U.S. government policy toward Cuba has "hurt the Cuban people for almost 40 years."

One of those given central credit in the big-business press for convincing Ryan to make the trip to Cuba is Democratic state legislator Edgar Lopez. Lopez is infamous in the Puerto Rican community here for leading a witch-hunt against fighters for the independence of Puerto Rico.

While in Cuba, Ryan announced the creation of a Cuba-Illinois Exchange Council to promote educational, cultural, social, and sports exchanges between Cuba and Illinois. He floated the idea of the Chicago Cubs or White Sox going to Havana to play Cuba's national baseball team.

These proposals fit the framework of what U.S. officials call "track two" of their policy against Cuba. This approach consists of allowing an expansion of specific academic and cultural contacts in hopes of influencing layers within Cuban society and buying allegiance to capitalism and opposition to socialism.

The editors of the New York Times praised Ryan's trip. "The time is ripe for changing American policy toward Cuba from isolation to democratic engagement," stated a November 2 editorial in the liberal daily. "American businesses, like American farmers, see post-Castro Cuba as a potentially lucrative market and do not want to concede it to foreign competitors."

Despite such tactical differences over the embargo by a minority within the U.S. ruling class, there is no indication of a change in the government's decades-long policy. As recently as last August an amendment to an agriculture bill that would ease restrictions on food and medical exports to Cuba, which had been adopted by the Senate, was killed in the House. Washington's economic warfare against Cuba has in fact intensified under the Clinton administration. At the same time Clinton's course has been increasingly directed against Washington's imperialist allies, who are also competitors, who trade with Cuba.

The U.S. State Department publicly criticized Ryan for his seven-hour meeting with Fidel Castro. "We prefer that there not be a lot of high level contact with Castro so long as he refuses to lift his embargo on the Cuban people," said department spokesperson James Rubin.

Speaking to the dozens of reporters covering the governor's visit, Cuban president Fidel Castro stated that the embargo "hurts the farmers of Illinois. In such times as the present, where there is depression of prices, it does not make sense really to prevent farmers from selling to Cuba." He emphasized that Cuba would not change its economic and political policies in exchange for lifting the embargo. "You cannot strangle a country economically and criticize it at the same time."  
 

Working people discuss Ryan's trip

Tom Smith, a veteran of many strikes against Caterpillar and a member of the United Auto Workers Local 974, commented on Ryan's trip. "Cat's business in East Peoria is sour. They have a lot of unsold inventory. I think Cat has been looking at Cuba as a market for a long time," he said. "They are interested for their own damn reasons. And Governor Ryan's relationship with working people in Illinois is not very good."

Jake Perasso, a meatpacker at Ampac, a slaughterhouse in Chicago, reports that the visit has sparked some lively discussion among some of his fellow meatpackers. "We have been discussing the governor's trip. One of my co-workers said that Fidel Castro uses his popularity to get privileges. A couple of other workers were quick to speak up about their support of the Cuban revolution, including Fidel Castro."

Although most coverage in the big-business press sought to slander the Cuban revolution, a few articles gave a glimpse of the obstacles the U.S. rulers face in their desire to roll back the Cuban revolution, whether by economic warfare or "engagement."

The Chicago Sun-Times ran one such article called, "Night life in communist Havana an eye-opener." It reported the observations of one befuddled businessman on the Illinois delegation. At a restaurant in Havana, the Sun Times said, John Glennon, president of Health Alliance, asked a waitress if the man directing the staff was the owner. She did not understand what he meant by the word, "owner," so several bartenders and waiters had a quick huddle. The waitress returned and asked, "By owner, do you mean is this his restaurant?"

"Yes," replied Glennon.

She then explained, "Nobody owns anything here. The state owns everything."

Glennon remarked to the reporter, "Here's a 24- or 25-year-old lady and you think of the system she's lived in for her whole life. She has no concept of an individual owning a restaurant."  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home