LAKEWOOD: For Sergio Negrin, the July 20th reopening of the American embassy in Havana, Cuba, paints a far different picture than the island he left behind in the early 1970s.
“Just the thought of an American flag back in Cuba — oh!” he said.
Negrin and his family own Frijoles Colorado Cuban Restaurant in Lakewood. They’ve thought about how their families on the island could potentially see change in the simplest of forms.
“It’s impossible to get meat down there,” Negrin said. “Just the thought of some kind of freedom, some kind of trade, to get meat to Cuba, toiletries, deodorant, soap — none of that is available there.”
That also means it’s a potential market for Colorado businesses, despite the fact that the U.S. trade embargo for Cuba is still in place. It would be up to Congress to lift the embargo.
“We just hosted our largest conference of the year in May and I asked from the podium, ‘how many of you would like to go on a trade mission to Cuba?'” said Karen Gerwitz, president of World Trade Center Denver. “And half the room raised their hands. It’s obviously a place that businesses want to go and seek out opportunities right now.”
Among the Colorado businesses that could benefit most from Cuban trade are agriculture, including livestock and crops as well as medical device and technology companies. Another trade group in Denver — the Chamber of the Americas — is planning a trade mission to Cuba in September.
Gerwitz said, with the embargo still in place, major trade with Cuba won’t happen overnight.
“It is going to take time and we want to make sure that the companies are ready for that time,” Gerwitz said.
Back at Frijoles Colorado, the embargo is seen as something that hasn’t done much to bring change to the island.
“Everybody knows that Cuba buys food or whatever they need through a third country – because the rest of the world does business in Cuba,” said owner Ana Mejuto.
It is business that Sergio Negrin hopes might start to make a difference for the people who live there.
“Freedom in Cuba would be unbelievable,” he said. “So, I guess we got to get there in baby steps.”
Those baby steps will come in just a few weeks, with the raising of an American flag at its newest embassy.
