We’ll take it. The Tampa Bay region, that is. For now.
The “it” is the easing of travel restrictions to Cuba. The “we” prominently includes Tampa International Airport, which should soon see the benefit of direct charter flights to Cuba. There are approximately 75,000 Cuban-Americans living in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Lakeland area, and TIA should be first among equals after the incumbent airports in Miami, Los Angeles and New York. A shout-out is in order to U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, for tenaciously staying with her on-going effort promoting TIA for such direct travel to Cuba.
Some context. The Obama Administration continues to make incremental progress in normalizing relations with Cuba. When it comes to travel, it’s basically dismantling what the Bush Administration had added. That essentially gets us back to where we were a decade ago. Not nearly good enough, but progress and a degree of momentum.
It will now be easier for religious, cultural and technical groups, journalists, college students and organizations promoting people-to-people contact to go to Cuba. Not covered: general tourism travel. It’s still prohibited. American tourists can go to Hanoi–but not Havana. Or to Iran–but not Cuba.
It’s not just incongruous; it’s a reminder of what the de facto South Florida foreign-policy veto has wrought politically over the years. No surprise that Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, still thinks that any form of rapprochement is an awful, “unthinkable” idea.
Interesting–and ironic–to see who some of the other players are in helping promote TIA in this venture. The World Trade Center of Tampa Bay, an organization with a charge to foster better trade-and-development relations between countries, has been working behind the scenes on charter-flight scenarios. “We’ve been working on this for a long time,” noted Steve Michelini, the WTC/TB managing director. And then there was the ecstatic Jose Valiente, a Cuban native, who serves on the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce board. “It’s a great day and a win-win-win for the city of Tampa, the airport and for those who can visit their families,” he declared.
Some additional context. Let’s not forget, amid the high-fiving over eased travel rules and implications for TIA, the efforts of those who predate today’s key principals. Let’s not forget those who have been fighting the good, frustrating fight for a sensible US-Cuba/Tampa Bay-Cuba policy these last many years. Those such as Al Fox, the founder and president of The Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation. The self-described lightning rod on Cuba has often seemed like a prophet in his home town. The one nobody with clout would follow because it was politically unpalatable–regardless of how counterproductive Cold War-era policies were to this country, this state, this region and this port.
Fox didn’t come late to the fray, and he’s still on the pragmatic, what’s-best-for-us case. He’s been to Cuba countless times and has been regularly received by Fidel Castro. He knows it makes no sense that Texas and Louisiana clean Florida’s clock when it comes to exports to Cuba. He’s long been preaching the gospel of laying a foundation of increased trade and rapport with Cuban officialdom. For the short term and, even more importantly, for the inevitable long term.
Rest assured, when the economic embargo is finally lifted, those with pre-existing relationships, notably other Southern states and even other Florida cities, will have an advantage. Those who played it safe, didn’t want to get pro-active and waited for better political cover will merely be in the queue.
Hopefully, there’s still time–and room–for all key local players to work in synergistic cooperation for what’s best for Tampa, Tampa Bay, Florida and the U.S.