Cuba, U.S. Black farmers reach historic agreement
By Monica Moorehead
Cuban President Fidel Castro met with representatives of the
National Black Farmers Association and the biggest, oldest U.S.
civil rights organization--the NAACP--in early November in
Havana to help implement a historic trade agreement between
Cuba and struggling African American growers.
This historic agreement received hardly a mention in the
big-business press inside the United States or worldwide.
Pedro Alvarez, director of ALIMPORT--Cuba's food import
company--also met with the farmers. The trade agreement
outlines Cuba's commitment to purchase $10 million worth of
soy, corn, rice and chicken directly from U.S. Black
farmers.
Once the agreement is signed, Cuba will become the NBFA's
first foreign export market. The plan is to divide the payment
among several hundred Black farmers. This will help bolster
their credit rating to secure loans for the next year's
crop.
This development, along with other U.S. farmers' efforts to
trade with Cuba, is a slap in the face to the Bush
administration's plans to strengthen the 40-plus-year U.S.
blockade against Cuba. Under a new U.S. law, Cuba is prohibited
from making cash purchases of food items from U.S. farmers.
Since the triumph of its revolution in 1959, Cuba has always
promoted socialist international solidarity, not only among the
oppressed in the developing countries but in the imperialist
countries, especially the United States.
John Boyd, president of the NBFA, which has 24, 000 members
based mainly in the southeast, remarked on his meeting with
Castro: "He gave me his word that he would do business with
African American farmers. We've had a lot of difficulty
competing with the big boys [U.S. agribusiness] because when we
bid on a contract they say they can do it cheaper."
Boyd added that this contract "won't make anyone rich, but
it can help the bottom line." (usnewswire.com, Nov. 14)
African American farmers face institutionalized racism on
the part of the U.S. government and banks when they seek
low-interest federal loans to purchase necessary grain and
equipment to grow crops in order to reach some parity with
privileged white farmers.
Black farmers recently won a class-action lawsuit against
the U.S. Department of Agriculture for $600 million to settle
claims for enduring years of discrimination. But the farmers
are seeing very little of this payment.
During this past summer Black farmers held takeovers of
local USDA offices in Tennessee and elsewhere to protest the
difficulties they still face in obtaining federal loans.
Sixty Black farmers from 12 states took over an agricultural
office in Lake Providence, La., on Nov. 26. After closing that
office, half those farmers moved to another USDA service center
in Oak Grove. They succeeded in closing that office as
well.
"We're just trying to get justice," said farmer Eddie
Kennedy.
The Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association initiated
these two actions.
NAACP sees achievements
of Cuban revolution
The NAACP organized a high-level delegation, which included
the farmers, to travel to Cuba to gain a better understanding
of Cuba's revolutionary program in the area of fighting
racism.
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau,
said: "We're talking about a country that's 70 percent of
African descent that's 90 miles from our shores. Cuba is a
country whose leadership has shown a great interest for
concerns that have confronted the African American community.
If you compare the Cuban government to other governments in
Latin America, they're...head and shoulders above the rest in
terms of integration." (Yahoo News, Nov. 25)
The NAACP delegation visited the Hermanos Ameijeiras
Clinical-Surgical Hospital, the Latin American School of
Medical Services, and the University of Information and
Computer Science.
Due to socialist planning, Cubans enjoy free health care and
education. Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate compared
to the rest of Latin America and parts of the United States.
Cuba also has one of the highest literacy rates in the
world.
The itinerary also included a visit to an agricultural
cooperative and a scheduled meeting between the Women In the
NAACP and the Federation of Cuban Women to discuss issues that
affect the lives of women.
Reprinted from the Dec. 12, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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