3:26

When Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Havana to raise a flag over the soon to be reopened embassy this summer, it won’t be just an important symbolic moment.

The administration says the U.S. will be able to station more American personnel in Cuba, and that should be a big help in practical terms as more Americans travel to and trade with the Cold War-era foe.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar says U.S. embassies around the world are promoting American businesses, and she’s hoping that once the U.S. embassy is reopened in Havana this month, American companies interested in doing business there will find a place to get advice.

“If they’re not some big Fortune 500 company, they don’t actually have personnel on staff to help them vet customers,” Klobuchar says. “In fact, many of our small- and medium-sized businesses in Minnesota and across the country use the foreign commercial service. They have people in the embassy, so that they can actually call.”

There’s no foreign commercial service staff based at the U.S. diplomatic post in Havana yet to answer such a call, and a U.S. embargo is still on the books. Nevertheless, Klobuchar, a Democrat, is looking ahead.

“In order to really make this work, once you lift the trade embargo, you are going to have to have people that are working to help American businesses,” she says. “Otherwise, just the big guys get all the business.”

Minnesota already exports about $20 million a year in agricultural products to Cuba under a humanitarian exemption to the embargo. Cuban-American attorney Pedro Freyre teaches a course at Columbia University’s law school about the embargo, which he says has more holes than Swiss cheese.

“There’s huge, huge loopholes in the embargo,” Freyre says. “One of them has to do with the sale of agricultural products. The United States is one of the biggest trade partners that Cuba has. If you have a chicken cutlet in Havana, its likely to be a U.S. chicken.”

Freyre, a partner with the law firm Akerman LLP, sees big potential for trade in pharmaceuticals and in telecommunications. He says the U.S. can also export certain construction materials and paint for private property owners and charitable institutions in Cuba.

“Havana is a city that is in dire need of a paint job, so I suspect you’re going to see some opportunities there to get that type of material over to Cuba,” he says.

Freyre’s looking forward to the newly re-established embassy, though he’s found that its becoming just as easy to work directly with Cuban officials as he takes his clients around Havana.

“Having the embassy, I think, is always helpful,” he says. “It provides comfort, it provides support. Your government is there for you. But right now, I have to say that the direct communications with the Cuban officials have been opening up.”

Freyre’s own views about his homeland have changed too. He was always a staunch opponent of the Castro regime, but welcomes this new U.S. approach of engagement.

“The U.S. tried direct invasion, confrontation, blockade, guerrilla warfare, exploding cigars, an embargo, and none of it worked,” he says.

Though he and other experts don’t think Congress has the votes yet to formally lift the embargo, the push to open tourism is gaining momentum. Klobuchar says Congress shouldn’t stop there.

“Well, if you just do that and you have Americans flocking to Cuba on vacation, they’re going to be staying in Spanish hotels and eating food from Germany and China,” she says. “At some point, if we wait too long to get American businesses in there, we’re actually going to be losing enormous opportunities.”

Klobuchar has 17 co-sponsors on a bill to end the embargo, but faces opposition from some key Republicans, who accuse the White House of looking for legacy and overlooking human rights abuses in Cuba.

4:19

NPR’s Rachel Martin speaks with Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, about Republican presidential candidate Trump’s remarks on Mexican immigrants.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Donald Trump is doubling down on his negative comments about Mexicans and illegal immigration. To recap, here’s what he said last month when he announced his presidential run.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime, their rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards, and they tell us what we’re getting.

MARTIN: Univision severed all ties with Trump, and NBC did the same. Macy’s department store, which had carried a Donald Trump men’s line, also dropped him. Trump filed suit against the TV networks in response, and he continues to defend his remarks. Meanwhile, Hispanic groups are pressuring other organizations and businesses to distance themselves from the GOP presidential candidate.

Felix Sanchez is the chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. He says the controversy has made it clear, for the first time, that Hispanic consumers have a new level of influence in this country. Felix Sanchez joins me now in our studios in Washington.

Thanks for being with us.

FELIX SANCHEZ: Thank you.

MARTIN: You say the response to Trump’s remarks has been unprecedented. How so?

SANCHEZ: Yes, it’s galvanized Latinos across the Americas into what I have termed the Latino spring. It really is an awakening, and a unification, and an acknowledgment and sign of power that is not just within the borders of our country, but outside of our borders, because we’re a much more connected world through social media. And social media was the impetus for all of this outrage.

MARTIN: Univision, NBC, Macy’s – these huge American companies severed ties with Trump because there was outcry from these particular consumers. How – what form did that come in? Were there petitions, phone calls? How did it happen?

SANCHEZ: The Latin spring, as I called it, brought out everyone’s efforts where there were petitions. It was a virtual march on the Internet, and it was over the sense of dignity, over the sense of being disrespected. And talent, you know, came out. J Balvin was probably one the first ones to bring this forward, then Juanes, Shakira, Manar (ph), Roselyn Sanchez, Christian de la Fuente, Ricky Martin. So many others at the outset really said enough, (speaking Spanish). And that was the impetus here, and that’s what makes this so significant. It’s really an awakening and a change and a utilization of our power as a group. You know, we are $1.5 trillion in buying power. If you are going to run for the presidency of the United States and you make these kinds of statements, we are going to revolt over those comments. And while there’s been a response – Jeb Bush, Governor Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Governor Susanna Valdez – against this, it’s been passive. Secretary Clinton did acknowledge these remarks, but didn’t refer to him by name. That is not the kind of response that Latinos are looking for.

MARTIN: Well, let me ask you about that because is there an argument that, as you say, there were other GOP presidential candidates and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side who did weigh-in, to a degree, and didn’t agree with what Trump said by any stretch of the imagination – is there an argument that coming out strong, giving him a lot of attention, that that somehow elevates his comments and perhaps they didn’t want to do that?

SANCHEZ: No, we are now at a place where zero tolerance for Latino bashing. So if you’re a Latino and you’re insulted, you want to see the passion in someone’s expression defending you. You don’t want to see a passive statement. And Latinos are now not going to settle for political parties and corporations who just want to use them for power and profit.

MARTIN: What does this portend? Is this a one-off, or what does this mean going forward in this election and in future political moments?

SANCHEZ: I think it’s broken the mold. I think it’s created an understanding that, when we’re united, we can do so many things together. And I think that this is a beginning of a big change, not only in the United States, but I would say on a world front.

MARTIN: Felix Sanchez is the chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. Thanks so much for talking with us.

SANCHEZ: My pleasure.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

3:06

Expect heavy traffic and busy airports if traveling this Independence Day weekend. Travel industry groups say with unemployment down and wages ticking up, more Americans will be on the move.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Highways across the country are already busy and the lines are starting at airports. Welcome to the Independence Day weekend. AAA predicts nearly 42 million Americans will be traveling at least 50 miles from home – the most since 2008. And NPR’s David Schaper reports from Chicago a growing number of travelers, and the businesses that rely on them, worry about the condition of the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: Traffic is already getting heavy, but it is moving here on the Tri-State Tollway just outside of Chicago as a lot of families are looking to get an early start on their getaway for this long holiday weekend.

ROISIN DOHL: We’ve always done road trips. I love road trips.

SCHAPER: Roisin Dohl of Chicago is heading up to Lake Geneva, Wisc., with her two kids – a 5-year-old and an 11-year-old, plus one more.

DOHL: This one is a friend, so he’s the one keeping it sane. These two, if they were together just by themselves, they’d be fighting the whole time, so bringing an extra one to calm the backseat (laughter).

SCHAPER: That doesn’t seem to be a problem for this father-daughter duo from a suburban Geneva, Ill.

LANE BURNS: Lane Burns.

MORGAN BURNS: Morgan Burns.

L. BURNS: And we’re going up to Summerfest.

SCHAPER: That’s the city of Milwaukee’s big annual lakefront music festival. Lane Burns says he loves taking road trips as a way to reconnect with his now young adult children. The only drawback – road construction.

L. BURNS: Summer – all the orange things pop out of the ground and traffic slows down. It’s just the way it is.

SCHAPER: Orange things meaning cones.

L. BURNS: Yes, exactly, exactly. These just seem to…

M. BURNS: Signs.

L. BURNS: …Kind of pop out of the ground and there you go.

SCHAPER: It’s like the snowfall actually encourages their growth.

L. BURNS: Seems like it, yes. There is a correlation.

SCHAPER: But Burns says congestion is getting worse, and he’s concerned about the crumbling state of the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

L. BURNS: It’s a shame what our government’s done to us. It’s just a shame.

SCHAPER: And the U.S. Travel Association is concerned, too. The lobbying group that represents the tourism industry says this Fourth of July weekend means big business.

DAVE HUETHER: We estimate that travelers are going to spend about $15.8 billion during this weekend.

SCHAPER: The U.S. Travel Association’s Dave Huether says all that spending is a big boost to the nation’s economy, but he says increasingly travelers are finding bottlenecks, congestions and delays on the roads, rails and in the skies.

HUETHER: If we don’t work on the infrastructure problems going forward, travelers who, unfortunately, sometimes may face bottlenecks may face it more – even more often in the years going forward.

SCHAPER: The federal Highway Trust Fund is due to run out of money at the end of this month. The travel industry is one of many groups urging Congress to enact a long-term sustainable funding solution instead of another short-term extension, as it has done repeatedly over the last several years. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.