Page 11 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS A11
Tuesday 16 February 2016

APNewsBreak: US OK’s first factory in Cuba since revolution

A farmer drives his tractor in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. The Obama ad- Since then, Obama has mentum in their new rela- U.S. and Cuba since shortly
ministration has approved the first U.S. factory in Cuba in more been carving exceptions tionship. Cuba announced after the 1959 revolution.
than half a century, allowing a pair of former software engineers into the embargo through late last month that it The Oggun tractor plant,
to build a plant assembling as many as 1,000 small tractors a a series of executive ac- would more than double named after a god in
year. The partners were notified by Treasury Department officials tions, and his administration the number of public Wi-Fi Cuba’s syncretic Sante-
in February 2016. now says they allow U.S. access spots to more than ria religion, will assemble
manufacturing at the Mari- 100 across the country this commercially available
(AP Photo/Javier Galeano) el port and special eco- year and bring broadband components into a dura-
nomic zone about 30 miles Internet to a small number ble and easy-to-maintain
M. WEISSENSTEIN lems that they consider are west of Havana. One ex- of Cuban homes, where it 25-horsepower tractor sell-
Associated Press the most important prob- ception allows U.S. compa- is currently illegal. Obama ing for less than $10,000,
HAVANA (AP) — The lems for them to solve,” nies to export products that said in 2014 that Castro Clemmons and Berenthal
Obama administration has Clemmons said. “It’s our benefit private and coop- had promised to increase said. The men believe they
approved the first U.S. fac- belief that in the long run erative farmers in Cuba. Cubans’ access to the In- can sell hundreds of the
tory in Cuba in more than we both win if we do things Berenthal and Clemmons ternet as part of detente. tractors a year to Cuban
half a century, allowing a that are beneficial to both say they will sell only to the On Saturday, Cuba an- farmers with financing from
two-man company from countries.” private sector. nounced that it had re- relatives outside the coun-
Alabama to build a plant The $5 million to $10 million The Obama administration turned a U.S. Hellfire missile try and to non-government
assembling as many as plant would be the first sig- says it is eager to make the that it said was mistakenly organizations seeking to
1,000 small tractors a year nificant U.S. business invest- opening with Cuba irre- shipped to Havana from help improve Cuban agri-
for sale to private farmers in ment on Cuban soil since versible by any future ad- Paris in 2014. On Tuesday, culture, which suffers from
Cuba. Fidel Castro took power in ministration. Since the start Cuba’s Transport Minister low productivity due most-
The Treasury Department 1959 and nationalized bil- of the year, U.S. and Cuba and the U.S. Secretary of ly to excessive control of
last week notified partners lions of dollars of U.S. corpo- have made a series of an- Transportation will sign a both basic supplies and
Horace Clemmons and rate and private property. nouncements that appear deal authorizing the first prices by an inefficient,
Saul Berenthal that they That confiscation provoked designed partly to create a regularly scheduled com- centrally planned state
can legally build tractors a U.S. embargo on Cuba sense of unstoppable mo- mercial flights between the bureaucracy.q
and other heavy equip- that prohibited virtually all
ment in a special econom- forms of commerce and
ic zone started by the Cu- fined non-U.S. companies
ban government to attract millions of dollars for do-
foreign investment. ing business with the island.
Cuban officials already Letting an American tractor
have publicly and enthu- company operate inside a
siastically endorsed the Cuban government facility
project. The partners said would have been unimagi-
they expect to be building nable before Presidents
tractors in Cuba by the first Barack Obama and Raul
quarter of 2017. Castro declared on Dec.
“Everybody wants to go to 17, 2014, that they would
Cuba to sell something and restore diplomatic rela-
that’s not what we’re trying tions and move to normal-
to do. We’re looking at the ize trade, travel and other
problem and how do we aspects of the long-broken
help Cuba solve the prob- bilateral relationship.