Gov. Cuomo has met with Cuba's top officials for U.S. affairs at the start of a trip that makes him the first American governor to visit Cuba since the recent thaw in relations with the communist nation.
In a short, formal state visit on Monday and Tuesday, Cuomo and a group of lawmakers and business leaders will work to foster ties between the Empire State and Cuba. The governor left early Monday from John F. Kennedy Airport for what he has called "a tremendous stepping stone" that will "help open the door to a new market for New York businesses."
"We believe dramatic change" is possible, Cuomo said.
The governor touched down in Havana late Monday morning and traveled to the Hotel Nacional, where he met with Josefina Vidal, Cuba's top negotiator in meetings over re-establishing diplomatic ties. He had meetings planned with officials from the Cuban government and Catholic Church.
At a business roundtable, Cuomo, who brought Yankee caps from New York to give out as gifts, stressed his trip was about commercialism. He spoke about the Statue of Liberty, how the Big Apple is a place known for freedom, and discussed how his father argued in the 1990s to lift the embargo -- a policy local Cubans consider an impasse to them improving their way of life.
A tour guide working with Cuomo and the reporters with him pointed out a sign the bus passed on the way to events that, in Spanish, likened the embargo to genocide; the sign had a noose on it. The tour guide, whose first name is Christopher, explained most people don't have a lot of money in Cuba, and many have to work two or three jobs to feed their families.
Christopher said there was plenty of media coverage in Cuba leading up to Cuomo's visit, and the general feeling is that something huge is about to happen economically for the country; people are just waiting to see what that "something" is, he explained.
Cuomo was expected to visit Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, the Archbishop of the Archdioceses of Havana, whom the governor referred to as "His Excellency," later Monday, and joked about looking forward to appreciating his first Cuban cigar.
Light permitting, Cuomo was scheduled to go on a walking tour of old Havana before heading to a delegation dinner to end the night.
The governor will return to Albany Tuesday morning.
Trade experts say New York could profit from improved relations with the Caribbean nation. New York farmers could export apples, powdered milk and other dairy products. Businesses could invest big in Cuba's developing information technology infrastructure. Hoteliers could build resorts to prepare for the increase in American tourists.
Any significant economic relationship with Cuba will take time, cautioned Joe Schoonmaker, chairman of the New York District Export Council and a trade-risk insurance broker. He predicted that tourism would be the first sector of the Cuban economy to open up and that it will be some time before Cuba is engaging in robust trade.
"It's not going to be like opening up China," he said. "As far as hundreds of millions of dollars of products going down to Cuba, I don't see it at this time. They're not going to be buying a lot of stuff."
Critics say Cuomo's visit legitimizes a dictatorship and is more about politics than exports. State Republican Chairman Ed Cox dismissed the trade mission as a political stunt "meant to bolster his national profile."
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Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, whose mother is a Cuban exile, said any efforts to normalize relations must be accompanied by significant concessions from the Castro regime.
"I do not understand the purpose of this trade mission or see any concrete benefit for the state of New York," said Malliotakis, who represents portions of Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Cuomo spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa said that greater engagement with Cuba will "do more to support the Cuban people and promote our values" than "continuing a policy of isolation which has failed for the last 50 years."
Those expected to join Cuomo on the trip include Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the CEOs of JetBlue and Chobani Greek Yogurt and executives from Pfizer, biopharmaceutical company Regeneron and a Finger Lakes dairy company.
"There's potential there," said Steve Ammerman of the New York State Farm Bureau. "Any time we can create another outlet for our farm products and our farmers to make more money, that's a good thing for our entire economy in New York state."
