INDEPENDENT CUBAN FARERS, RELECTED BY THE ANAIC (NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF INDEPENDENT CUBAN FARMERS), HAVE NOT BEEN INFORMED OF INVITATION MADE TO THEN BY THE  U.S CAMBER OF COMMERCE.

JUTINICU – Santiago de Cuba, September 11, 2000

News release by: Antonio Alonso, ANAIC President.
The independent Cuban farmers not belonging to the State-controlled National Association of small farmers, who were invited by the U.S. Camber of Commerce, during their recent visit to Cuba, to came to the United States, have not been officially informed by the Cuban authorities of the follow-up of the invitation.
We should make clear that the exclusion of members of the National Alliance of Independent Cuban farmers shall place the project exclusively under a political agenda, because the only farmers in Cuba that produce under a market economy are the independent farmers affiliated with the ANAIC.
The list presented by the Independent Farmers, ANAIC, covers the different areas of farm production, as well as representation of the Cuban women farmers. The farmers designated are the following:
1-. Rafael Iturralde Bello, President independent cooperative “Libertad” and ANAIC National Coordinator.
2-. Elizabeth Bejar Baltazar, founder of the independent cooperative “Transicion” and of the ANAIC.
3-. Ing. Eduardo Sayago, Vice-Director of the National Center for Agrarian Studies and Development, affiliated with the ANAIC.
4-. Reynaldo Jimenez Yanset, ANAIC  Organizer and private owner.
5-. Jose Angel Cantero, ANAIC Vice-President
6-. Ramon Trujillo, tabaco producer and ANAIC Delegate in Pinar del Rio province.
Recently, the Miami Herald published the information about the Independent Farmers visit to the U.S.A. next October.
However, up until today, none of the independent farmers designated by the ANAIC have been informed by the Cuban authorities, nor has the U.S Chamber of Commerce confirmed their invitation to the independent farmers made in Cuba, through their representative in the U.S.A. Therefore all the present evidence seems to indicate that only the farmers selected and supervised will visit the U.S.A. leaving behind the farmers who represent a free market economy.