AFBF's Kleckner Willing to Meet Castro

November 29,1999

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Dean Kleckner says he's willing to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro to show that U.S. farmers support lifting the U.S. embargo on the island nation. There has been speculation Castro may attend this week's World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle.

Kleckner and other AFBF officials are in Seattle attending the WTO meeting to make sure agriculture remains high on the trade negotiators' agenda. If Castro attends and is interested in a meeting, "I will meet with him" because of the AFBF's support for lifting the embargo, says Kleckner.

In a telephone news conference, Kleckner said the United States could "fairly quickly" sell $1 billion in rice, wheat and other farm products to Cuba if the embargo was lifted. The U.S. Senate voted this summer to allow U.S. food sales to Cuba, but the provision was defeated in a conference committee with the House on the final farm appropriations bill.

Kleckner has visited Cuba but did not meet with Castro. Instead, he talked with Cuban officials about the AFBF's support for lifting the embargo.