Senate Panel Votes to Ease Cuba Sanctions

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Thursday to open the door to broader sales of U.S. food and medicine to Cuba, the target of 40 years of sanctions intended to topple communist leader Fidel Castro.

Farm and business groups say the island nation, 90 miles from Florida, could be a natural market for U.S. exports. Anti-Castro sentiment in Congress scuttled two recent proposals to broaden food and medical trade with Cuba.

Food sales are now allowed to non-government groups in Cuba, a small market. Although the committee-approved legislation would allow sales to the government, it would bar the use of U.S. export credits. Analysts say Cuba is too short on cash to buy U.S. goods without them.

An aide to committee Chairman Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican, said there would be little practical effect from the new language.

Cuba spends about $1 billion a year on food imports, much of it purchased through loans and credit. “We definitely need the credits, but we expect there will be sales,” said Barbara Spangler, head of a trade group that promotes U.S. wheat exports. “We think it will make a difference.”