Posted: 09/13/2011
By: Linda Hurtado By: Linda Hurtado
HAVANA, Cuba - Mike Morisico is preparing for an important business
meeitng in Havana.
In the business center at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, he's making plans
for the day. The owner of Florida Produce, based in Tampa, has been
exporting fruit and nuts to Cuba for years. "I've been selling food to
Cuba under the Trade Enhancement Act since 2000. I'm going to see an
agency tonight and I have some stuff to present to them for the end of
the year.
Mike says direct fights from Tampa to Havana save him time and money. I
asked him if he thought these trips also offered opportunity for other
people from our area to do business with Cuba? He said, "I don't know
why not. It's more direct for Florida's east coast. You've got
businesses in Orlando, Sarasota and St. Petersburg."
The Obama Administration announced rule changes in January that led to
Tampa International Airport qualifying for non-stop flights to Havana.
The changes also loosened restrictions by allowing cultural, educational
and religious groups to sponser trips without getting permission every
single time.
Mario Nunez, an American Airlines flight attendant and host of
TampaNativesShow.com , is part of a group of Tampa natives that will be
taking advantage of the new rules, staying at the Occidental Hotel in
Miramar later this year to play baseball. "When I come back in November,
I'll be there for a week so I will have lots to talk about. We'll get a
chance to wake up and have breakfast, then play baseball against some
Cuban Patriots and exchange good will and stories, of course. We will
spend some time away from the baseball field. We'll be there for seven
days."
The Florida Orchestra was also given official permission for a
multi-year cultural exchange program. A portion of the orchestra will be
coming to Havana to perform later in September. But this gateway from
Tampa to Havana, closed for some fifty years, is not completely open
yet. Traveling from Tampa to Havana for tourism, if you are an American,
is still a violation of US law.
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