John Block, President Reagan's Agriculture Secretary, Appears in Roll Call Advertisement Calling Trade and Travel Relations with Cuba an 'Expression of His Conservative Values'

WASHINGTON, March 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The March 10, 2010 issue of Roll Call features a full-page advertisement featuring John Block, who served as President Ronald Reagan's Agriculture Secretary, in which Blocks calls closer agriculture trade and travel relations with Cuba "an expression of the conservative values that brought me to Washington."

Block says such relations would also create profits and jobs in America, "while providing better nutrition, more contacts, and greater hope for the Cuban people."

The full text of the advertisement reads as follows:

John Block, President Reagan's Agriculture Secretary, Talks about Cuba and the Conservative Values that Brought Him to Washington

"I have a passion for trade, for agriculture in all countries, and I have felt for years it is truly ridiculous that we don't have an open relationship with Cuba."

"We have seen time and again that the best way for our nation to influence change eventually leading to the spread of democracy is through building relationships with our trading partners."

"Through our limited relationship, Cuba has been a good market for us, and by adding American tourism to their economy they'd have more resources to purchase American food, fiber and fuel."

"It's hard to think of a better expression for the conservative values that brought me to Washington than taking steps now to create profits and jobs here in America, while providing better nutrition, more contacts, and greater hope for the Cuban people."

The advertisement is sponsored by The Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA), and the New America Foundation.

A copy of the advertisement can be downloaded here.

SOURCE The Center for Democracy in the Americas