The Cuban and Louisiana connection is a strong tie, weathered by time and the 1962 embargo. But with President Obama’s and Pope Francis’ recent actions, Mardi Gras beads will soon string across Gulf of Mexico once again.
Louisianans have much to thank the Cubans for and vice versa.
As daiquiris flow year round, much of what makes them such a potent coolant comes from Cuba.
Rum is one of the major derivatives from the many sugarcane fields in Cuba and Louisiana. Our mutual humid climates provides the perfect environment for sugar to prosper.
Before machines came to replace the manual labor, imported Africans did the dirty work. After toiling in the mosquito-infested fields all day, the people created their own distinct cultures.
Afro-Cuban and Creole cultures are remarkably similar, with dishes resembling gumbo and music extolling the virtues of the simple life with a driving beat and constant presence.
The French Quarter’s architecture was etched in Cuban stucco following the Great Fires of 1788 and 1794.
Historic economic ties are strong, too.
Before the trading embargo was implemented, NOLA.com|Times-Picayune reported that “New Orleans was the U.S.’s largest trading partner with the communist nation.”
As companies begin to once again make connections on the island, Cubans will fondly remember the smell and feeling of the almighty American dollar and will fall over one another to have it once again.
The agriculture market will provide a hefty source of revenue for Louisiana once normalization commences.
Louisiana-grown rice is the best in the world, and Cubans have a massive propensity for it. One Acadiana rice farmer believes, “Cuba could buy as much as half of Louisiana’s rice crop when the embargo is eventually lifted.”
For rice growers and those in the storage industry in Northeast Louisiana, opening that market would be an opportunity impossible to miss.
This is why U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham’s, R-La., trip to Cuba this week is so vital.
He, along with industry representatives, are traveling there without all the pomp and circumstance of a presidential visit but with the same amount of historical gravitas.
Shipping from the port of New Orleans to the port of Havana only takes 36 hours, which is much closer than Cuba’s current main rice trade partners of China, Vietnam and Thailand.
The tourism aspect of this cooling of tensions bodes well for Louisiana, too.
New Orleans is a major tourist port. Carnival Cruises already established a week-long cruise between Havana and Miami, and New Orleans is the next likely place to establish a port of call.
Prospects of the overnight ferry between Havana and New Orleans returning are welcomed, and if implemented could lead to a teeming cultural exchange furthering and deeping ties.
At a time when Louisiana is in desperate need of every penny it can find, we cannot miss or overlook the prospect of an entirely untapped market practically begging for our products.
Garrett Hines is a 21-year-old political science senior from Monroe, Louisiana.