Email This Post
Talking to Tampa businesspeople Thursday, Rep. Cathy Castor (D-Tampa) reiterated her desire to visit Cuba sometime this year, to position Tampa as a gateway to the island and to express concern about oil drilling that began in Cuban waters this week.
If she indeed visits the island, this would make her the second sitting member of Florida’s congressional delegation since 1959 to officially travel to Cuba.
During her speech at a luncheon by the Tampa Bay World Trade Center honoring her, among others, for her role in bringing Cuba flights to Tampa International Airport, the three-term congresswoman urged local leaders to rekindle Tampa’s once-strong economic ties to Cuba.
“We have got to market ourselves as a gateway to Cuba,” Castor said.
At the same time, she criticized Cuba’s human rights record and Havana’s close ties with the government of Iran.
“The government of Cuba certainly doesn’t make it easy for someone like me to visit,” she said.
Even so, “it’s unconditional,” she answered a reporter’s question whether her travel plans were conditioned on unilateral moves by Cuba. She said she would like to travel just by herself, without a delegation, and doesn’t intend to meet with the Castro brothers.
In 2003, her predecessor, Rep. Jim Davis (D-Tampa), became the first sitting member of the Florida Congressional delegation since 1959 to officially travel to Cuba. His visit, which included meetings with officials as well as a high-profile photo opp with a Cuban dissident group, did not produce any obvious improvements for Tampa’s Cuba relations.
Davis was in the audience during Castor’s speech.
