Mitch Perry
Tampa Bay area Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor will be leading a congressional delegation to Cuba this weekend.
Castor will be departing from Tampa International Airport on Saturday with Minnesota Republican Representative Tom Emmer. Last year the two members filed legislation to lift the Cuban embargo and allow for businesses and the private sector to trade freely with Cuba. They are also co-chairs of the House Bipartisan Cuba Working Group, started late last year to press for congressional action to build on progress. It will be Castor’s first trip to Cuba since the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States.
Castor has been a change agent in regards to pushing U.S. policy toward Cuba.
After she visited the communist island in 2013, she forcefully declared that the U.S. government’s 50-year plus restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba no longer made any sense — and went further in condemning the sanctions than any Florida lawmaker had ever done.
Castor penned a letter to President Obama after her visit, calling on him to go beyond the incremental moves he had made in relations with Cuba. In 2009, Obama moved to remove restrictions on family travel and money transfers. In 2011, he gave permission to eight more airports (including Tampa International) to offer direct charter flights to and from Cuba.
In December 2014, Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two nations. Since then, U.S. and Cuban embassies have reopened in Havana and Washington.
Castor has been active in advocating that a Cuban consulate be located in Tampa as well. The Tampa Greater Chamber of Commerce supports the idea though Mayor Bob Buckhorn opposes it.
