We’ve been seeing all kinds of scenarios–and political blowback from the usual suspects–surrounding the normalization of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba. The ramifications of rapprochement range from the humane to the economic to the geopolitical.
And no state or city would benefit more than Florida and Tampa–for all the obvious reasons.
There’s also some interesting international conjecture that has come into play.
City Council member Yoli Capin, who wrote the resolution to bring the Cuban consulate to Tampa, speculates about the implications. “The world is paying attention to the improving relationship of the United States and Cuba,” she points out. “Tampa could become a focal point of it.”
In other words, if you thought the Bollywood Oscars was an arrow in the international quiver, which it was, this, candidly, is a lot more substantial.
And Jeff Carlson, the Tucker/Hall president and a player in the Tampa/Cuba nexus, is thinking even bigger picture.
“There’s talk about Havana becoming the next Singapore or Dubai or Hong Kong of Latin America,” notes Carlson, “and if that happens, we need Tampa to be the main jumping-off point for the United States to do business with Cuba.”
Cuba, to say the least, is about more than closing a Cold War chapter, a vendetta agenda and presidential “legacy shopping.” It’s about doing what’s in the enlightened self-interest of this country, this state and this city. And like so much of what happens in 2015, the implications are also global.