Farmers, hit hard by the end of price supports at home and the decline of Asian markets abroad, see Cuba as a natural market to capture. American real estate investors, watching Europeans scoop up prime locations in Cuba, fret that they will be shut out. Finally, U.S. corporations have mounted a broad attack on all sanctions, and it's easier to make the case for trade with Cuba than with Iran or Iraq. For starters, no other country observes the embargo on Cuba. Business and humanitarian lobbies back proposals in Congress to allow unrestricted sales of food and medicine.
Agriculture stands to gain most.
Cuba once bought all the rice the United States exported, says Marsha Fair, spokeswoman for U.S. Rice Producers. Cuba's potential, rather than its present struggling economy, is the big draw. Investment Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz fielded a question about guarantees against expropriation with a lecture on how much Cuba has suffered from the blockade. This is why no unilateral embargo can be effective, says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Cuban-Americans are split over whether to support humanitarian aid, which has put their main lobbying group, the Cuban American National Foundation, on the defensive.