Once again, when it comes to Cuba, Carl Lindell is odd man out.
Lindell is a savvy businessman and Tampa Port Authority board member who has been pushing for the Port of Tampa – and, by association, this region, state and country – to get pro-active about normalizing relations with Cuba. He recently returned from a fact-finding visit (at his own expense) to Cuba, and he has become outspoken on the issue. Notably, America’s counter-productive, economic embargo that dates to 1962.
His recent suggestion that the seven-member TPA send a delegation to Cuba to assess trade opportunities was greeted by a groundswell of indifference and disagreement by the six other members, including Mayor Pam Iorio.
To date, only 6 per cent of (embargo) limited American exports to Cuba originate in Florida. It could be much more, contends Lindell, and Tampa could obviously be a major beneficiary. So why not explore the matter more and, at the very least, make valuable contacts and help pre-position Tampa for the inevitable, approaching day when Cuba does open up? As it now stands, Tampa would be at a competitive disadvantage to cities, such as New Orleans and Corpus Christi, which already have an established presence in Cuba.
Mayor Iorio, whose in-the-best-interests-of-Tampa instincts are invariably on the money, is off her game on this one. “As a collective effort on the part of the board, I don’t think it’s appropriate to focus on a particular country,” she explained.
As if any other “particular” country were 90 miles away, shared history and historic trade with Tampa, and was a tragic, atavistic relic of the Cold War. As if any other “particular” country had a similar wherewithal to make a difference during a recession. As if any other “particular” country had humanitarian needs that could be uniquely addressed from this side of the Florida Straits.
The mayor, who has encouraged members of the business community to check out Cuba, has made the point before that Cuba is a “federal” issue. As a result, she has underscored, “It’s not appropriate for me to embark on my own foreign policy.”
Of course not. That’s hardly a mayor’s or a port authority board member’s purview. Whether it’s Paris or Pyongyang. Or Havana. No mayor, especially a prominent Democrat with more political life left, would be wise to get out in front of the incrementalist Obama Administration and appear to grandstand.
But that’s not to say a key local political figure can’t be part of a delegation logically looking for legal business and making the rounds to help make it happen. That’s why business people and politicians from other cities have already gone.
And continue to go. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson went last week. He accompanied a New Mexico farm products’ trade mission. But nobody thought he was embarking on his own foreign policy, even though he wanted to be president of the United States.