U.S. Secretary of Commerce to attend Cuba forum in Tampa

A few hours after the state Senate nearly unanimously approved a resolution denouncing the Obama Administration’s recent diplomatic breakthrough with Cuba, Tampa U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor‘s office announced a forum next week in Tampa to look at the new policies and what they will mean for local travel and trade.

The event, called the Cuba Forum: Tampa at the Forefront of Historic Change, is scheduled Monday at the Tampa Airport Marriott. Keynote speaker will be U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

Also participating will be representatives from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. State Department, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

A press release says Pritzker will discuss the Obama administration’s efforts to “grow the economy, support increased trade, and create American jobs.” She’ll also talk about the recent Cuban policies.

Shortly after the diplomatic success was announced in December, Castor said that she would enable such a summit on Cuba this spring.

Two years ago Castor became the first member of Congress from Florida to call for the end of the U.S. embargo after she made her first trip to the island. She advocates a Cuban consulate be built in Tampa, something that Tuesday’s Senate resolution  opposes.

Castor told Florida Politics recently that she didn’t think that much about what the Legislature was up to in denouncing the new policies.

“I’m not sure that the Florida Legislature has the legal ability to tamper with federal diplomatic relations,” she said. “They can try, but they ought to listen to this community, to the businesses and families that want to see improved relations.”

During the debate on the Senate floor Tuesday, Hialeah Sen. Rene Garcia said that if he thought that President Obama’s actions could change things on the Cuban island for the people, he’d be supportive: “But those Cubans on that island woke up the same way they woke up yesterday. And they will wake up the same way tomorrow. Nothing will change as a result of this policy shift for the island of Cuba.”

The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and Tampa International Airport also are helping to produce the event on Monday.