By Vanessa Bauzá
HAVANA BUREAU

HAVANA · Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco arrives in Havana this afternoon for a three-day trade mission aimed at boosting food sales to Cuba at a time when the Bush administration is tightening sanctions and seeking to limit trade with the island.

Louisiana's ports rank first in shipping commodities such as wheat, soy and corn that make up the bulk of exports to Cuba. But most of that food is not grown in Louisiana. State officials and local agribusiness executives are hoping a visit from their chief executive will help cash in on lucrative sales that have made Cuba the United States' 25th largest export market.

Blanco, a Democrat, has faced opposition from exile organizations like the Cuban American National Foundation, which described her trip as a public relations victory for President Fidel Castro.

"When the governor visits someone like Castro you empower and condone him," said George Fowler, a Havana-born attorney and director of the Foundation's Louisiana chapter. "It's no longer business at a grassroots level. If she goes it has a great deal of symbolism."

Blanco's press secretary, Denise Bottcher, said the trip is "strictly trade and purposeful travel," not political.

"The Foundation has not been supportive of trade [with Cuba] to begin with so that's something we don't agree on," Bottcher said. "But the rest of the state has been very supportive. We are a farm state."

Blanco will be accompanied by a delegation of 30 state officials and business executives, including rice and cotton growers and catfish farmers. She is the fourth U.S. governor to visit Cuba since Castro's 1959 revolution and the first to arrive since 2003 when Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack canceled plans for his own trip because of the Cuban government's crackdown on 75 dissidents.

Blanco's itinerary is unclear, but she is sure to meet with members of Cuba's food importing agency, Alimport, and other trade and commerce officials.

Louisiana's ports have consistently topped all others in Cuba trade, shipping a total of $445 million in goods to Cuba between 2001 and 2004, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which monitors exports to Cuba. However, Louisiana ports have recently lost some Cuba business to competing ports in Alabama and Texas, which rank second and third. Florida ports rank fourth.

"[Blanco's] state has ranked first every year in terms of port activity, but the over all percentage continues to decline," Council president John Kavulich said.

"As the governor, she is the chief marketing officer of her state. There is some sense to her using the bully pulpit to attempt to reverse that trend."

Vanessa Bauzá can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2005