1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             memorializing Congress to enact legislation to remove 
  1.3             trade, financial, and travel restrictions relating to 
  1.4             Cuba. 
  1.5      WHEREAS, the relationship between the United States and 
  1.6   Cuba has long been marked by tension and confrontation; further 
  1.7   heightening this hostility is the 40-year-old United States 
  1.8   trade embargo against the island nation that remains the 
  1.9   longest-standing embargo in modern history; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, Cuba imports nearly one billion dollars of food 
  1.11  every year, including approximately 1,100,000 tons of wheat, 
  1.12  37,000 tons of poultry, and 60,000 tons of dairy products; these 
  1.13  amounts are expected to grow significantly in coming years as 
  1.14  Cuba slowly recovers from the severe economic recession it has 
  1.15  endured following the withdrawal of subsidies from the former 
  1.16  Soviet Union in the last decade; and 
  1.17     WHEREAS, agriculture is one of the largest industries in 
  1.18  Minnesota and this state ranks among the top states in overall 
  1.19  value of agricultural exports; thus Minnesota is ideally 
  1.20  positioned to benefit from the market opportunities that free 
  1.21  trade with Cuba would provide; rather than depriving Cuba of 
  1.22  agricultural products, the United States embargo succeeds only 
  1.23  in driving sales to competitors in other countries that have no 
  1.24  such restrictions; and 
  1.25     WHEREAS, in recent years, Cuba has developed important 
  2.1   pharmaceutical products, namely, a new meningitis B vaccine that 
  2.2   has virtually eliminated the disease in Cuba; such products have 
  2.3   the potential to protect Americans against diseases that 
  2.4   continue to threaten large populations around the world; and 
  2.5      WHEREAS, Cuba's potential oil reserves have attracted the 
  2.6   interest of numerous other countries who have been helping Cuba 
  2.7   develop its existing wells and search for new reserves; Cuba's 
  2.8   oil output has increased more than 400 percent over the last 
  2.9   decade; and 
  2.10     WHEREAS, the United States' trade, financial, and travel 
  2.11  restrictions against Cuba hinder Minnesota's export of 
  2.12  agricultural and food products, its ability to import critical 
  2.13  energy products, the treatment of illnesses experienced by 
  2.14  Minnesotans and the right of Minnesotans to travel freely; NOW, 
  2.15  THEREFORE, 
  2.16     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.17  that it hereby respectfully urges the Congress of the United 
  2.18  States to consider the removal of trade, financial, and travel 
  2.19  restrictions relating to Cuba. 
  2.20     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.21  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.22  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  2.23  States, the President and Secretary of the United States Senate, 
  2.24  the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of 
  2.25  Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in 
  2.26  Congress.