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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hurricane Brings Chicken Wings and Corn to Cuba

Aired December 17, 2001 - 05:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, we've got a mystery for you. Chicken wings and corn have made diplomatic history in Cuba. It happened yesterday, and a hurricane gets credit.

But CNN's Lucia Newman says Cuba hopes it's just an appetizer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Remember the Maine? Not since the sinking of that U.S. Navy warship, has the presence of an American vessel in Havana harbor made such an impression.

Despite its name, the Express, it's taken nearly 40 years for an American ship to bring in American food to Cuba, in this case, 500 tons of frozen chicken legs.

At the other side of the port, another ship is bringing in 24,000 metric tons of American corn from nine Midwestern states.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), thank you very much.

NEWMAN: All this part of an unprecedented $30 million food purchase ...

LARRY H. CUNNINGHAM, ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND: On behalf of Archer Daniels ...

NEWMAN: ... by Cuba's Communist government.

CUNNINGHAM: It's our hope that these initial shipments and sales to Cuba will serve the purpose of proving the point that it's a logical thing for Cuba and the United States to trade with another.

NEWMAN: Logical, maybe, but difficult to nearly impossible at the moment because of the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, which goes back almost to the beginning of the Castro regime.

PEDRO ALVAREZ, PRES. ALIMPORT CUBA (through translator): American companies are being blocked by their own laws, which don't allow them to participate in the Cuban market -- purchases around $950 million worth of food.

NEWMAN: Although the sale of food and medicine is allowed by Washington, direct U.S. financing is forbidden. Havana, in turn, has vowed to not buy even a grain of American rice under those conditions.

Then, after being hit by a devastating hurricane last month, Cuba said it would buy American food in cash as a one-time deal.

(on camera): Havana's change of heart aims to whet the appetite of American farmers and exporters. They've long been pushing Washington for an opening of the Cuban market, and, after this, will presumably push even harder.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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