Tampa-Cuba trade and tourism ties hindered by embargo, confusion

But interest in Cuba has been thwarted by red tape, confusion and the 53-year-old embargo.

“I’m still seeing a lot of questions,” said ABC Charters Inc. president Tessie Aral, whose company arranges three (soon to be five) flights a week to Cuba from Tampa International Airport.

Aral and other experts spoke at a forum at TIA on Monday to answer questions from those who want to travel to Cuba and do business there.

It was moderated by one of the area’s most vocal critics of the embargo, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa. She said both nations are still adjusting to the relaxed rules. “The embargo is still in place,” Castor said. “That’s why there are mixed signals.”

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, the keynote speaker, plugged the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement negotiations and defended President Barack Obama’s decision to normalize relations despite Cuba’s human rights record.

“Decades of isolation have not helped to build a democratic and prosperous Cuba — and the time has come to change course,” Pritzker said. “Restoring our diplomatic relationship is, in part, about helping to build an economic future that empowers the Cuban people; develops a genuine Cuban private sector; and creates new opportunities for … Americans to do business with the people of an island just 90 miles off our coast.”

But many in the audience complained that they’re still not sure how to do business with Cuba.

While the administration made the paperwork for Americans visiting Cuba less onerous, travel is still restricted to educational and cultural purposes. Tourism is prohibited. Nor has it gotten easier for U.S. citizens to spend or exchange money there.

But that’s not always the fault of the U.S., according to assistant director for licensing Davin Blackborow of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. “Using credit cards down there is authorized,” he said. “But there’s a practical question whether the financial institutions there can handle credit cards.”

Aral said U.S. financial institutions seem confused about which rules no longer exist. “I don’t believe the banking system understands the wonderful changes the Obama administration has gotten done,” she said.

TIA has been at the forefront of Cuban travel since it was added to the list of U.S. airports that can fly directly there in 2011.

More than 175,000 people have traveled to Cuba through Tampa since 2011, said airport CEO Joe Lopano. More than 12,000 have already flown to Cuba in the first two months of this year, he said, a 25 percent jump from the same time period in 2014.

“It’s not about politics here at the airport,” Lopano said. “If the community wants us to serve Cuba, then we will.”

Establishing a Cuban consulate in Tampa was also discussed. There’s strong opposition to opening an office in Miami. But in Tampa, officials are open to it.

Afterward, Castor said changing the U.S.-Cuba relationship will take time. “We were able to answer some questions,” she said. “But the watchword here if you’re interested in trading with Cuba is ‘patience.’ ”