U.S. Sanctions Worsen Food Insecurity in Cuba

As Chair of the United States Agricultural Coalition for Cuba, Paul Johnson has been trying to encourage Cuba-U.S. agricultural trade for years. But U.S. sanctions have stood in the way.

During Obama’s historic opening, the two countries began talking about new ways to collaborate. But the rollback of Obama’s policy under Trump and Biden has made any progress difficult.

“I would like to see a serious discussion, not only at how the United States agricultural producers can increase their exports. We believe we can quadruple the amount of exports that we currently do. There would be a readily available market for Cuban products in the United States,” Johnson says.

This story is part of the series “Obama’s opening with Cuba: Ten years later.”

TRANSCRIPT

“I hope we can have an honest conversation, that we can see Cuba for what it is: researchers, scientists, schoolteachers, lawyers, doctors and farmers. Start seeing people for the people they are and not just as a government,” says Paul Johnson, head of the United States Agricultural Coalition for Cuba.

“When President Obama was here in Cuba, I remember the sentiment, the mood, the zeitgeist was very positive. It allowed for both sides to talk, to converse, to sit down and find solutions to common problems. And one of those common problems is agriculture and how you feed people, or plant and animal health diseases. There were some important initiatives taken, but when he left office, a lot of that momentum was unfortunately lost,” Johnson says. 

“The idea was that this is not going to stop once the genie is out of the bottle, there's no going back. But what we learned is, they can put the genie back in the bottle, and they certainly did. President Trump had a series of regulations that impacted the relationship. What we've seen as consequences of our actions over the last eight years, both President Trump and President Biden, is we've seen 2 million people exit the country, which is incredibly frightening, not only for the future of Cuba, but of course, we have 2 million more Cubans showing up on the borders of the United States,” he explains. 

“We need to focus more on building better relationships. We still export about $300 million of food from the United States to Cuba, which is very positive, but we haven't talked about two-way trade. We need to address food security and how United States agriculture could play a role in helping solve that common problem. I would like to see a serious discussion, not only at how the United States agricultural producers can increase their exports. We believe we can quadruple the amount of exports that we currently do,” he continues. 

“And I'd also like to see us talk more about ways where we can increase local Cuban agricultural production, focus on goods that Cuba can also do very well and then export their products to the United States, which we know there would be a readily available market to do that. I'd like to see a more serious discussion on plant and animal health issues. That's something that impacts us all. Pests and diseases don't understand politics. They don't understand borders. And lastly, I'd like to see us pay more attention to Cuba's private sector, which includes agricultural cooperatives. I hope we can have an honest conversation, that we can see Cuba for what it is: scientists, schoolteachers, lawyers, doctors and farmers. Start seeing people for the people they are and not just as a government,” he says.