Corrigan's Cuban adventure

Board members of the Northern California World Affairs Council, including SF State President Robert A. Corrigan, were in Cuba to prepare for better business relations with the island country last week when American planes were shot down by the Cuban military.

The group of about 25 people, including Corrigan, former president of the World Bank, A.W. Clausen and the CEO of Levi Strauss George James, were briefed by Cuba's Foreign Ministry and then flew on the last charter from Havana to Miami before President Clinton froze the flights, said the coordinator for the trip, Pam Montanaro.

Corrigan was unavailable for comment.

While the group visited an agricultural site Saturday two military jets roared overhead, causing a loud, unfamiliar sound according to Montanaro, who was also on the scene.

"I've never heard that sound before," said Montanaro of the Global Exchange, the group that organized the trip for the Northern California World Affairs Council which tries to build relations between Cuba and the United States.

According to the New York Times, on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 24 two American civilian planes were shot down by Cuban military pilots resulting in four presumed deaths. The pilots were flying on behalf of Brothers to the Rescue, a volunteer group which searches for refugees attempting to reach US soil by sea.

The group was to meet Fidel Castro that evening before the conflict, but it was canceled. It left Cuba on Sunday as planned.

The Cuban government said US planes were violating its airspace, said Montanaro. In fact, Global Exchange received a fax from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs that gave a detailed summary of past airspace violations by US planes. Since May 1994, according to the fax, there have been 20 airspace violations involving 40 aircraft.

SF State International business management professor Thomas Bates said the shooting down of the two planes wouldn't bring about a speedy change in the US embargo against Cuba, in effect since 1961. But he is in favor of lifting the ban.

"I'm always for reducing the trade boundaries," Bates said. "I'm for opening political and economic relationships. It's a basis for peace."

SF State professor of international business Nicholas Gurney believed Cuba's military reaction was "Outrageous. It's not good business sense," he said.

He said Cuba is a part of the Latin American trade bloc which will play an important role in the world economy. Europe, he said, is already trading with Cuba.

"It's a great setback for Cuba and the United States," Gurney said. "Cuba is desperately in need of economic trade to boost its economy."

Gurney said trade with Cuba is inevitable because of an overwhelming demand, but will begin through informal means and not trade negotiations.

International relations professor JoAnn Aviel thinks the United States could be trading with Cuba within five years. Changes could come through leadership. "Castro will not be there forever," she said.

Despite the military debacle, Montanaro said, the trip was fruitful because the group was given a high degree of access. She said Corrigan met with the president of the University of Havana as well. The purpose of the five-day trip by business, foundation and academic leaders was to understand the situation in Cuba and establish a rapport with Cuban officials to mitigate the embargo.

The trip was organized by San Francisco-based Global Exchange and Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The delegates met Cuba's ministers of foreign investment, of the economy and the chief of the US-interest section in Cuba, which acts as an American embassy.

[ Golden Gater Online February 29, 1996 ]

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