Cuba: After the Thaw

Plenty of U.S. companies would like to move in, but change will come slowlyand competitors from other nations are already entrenched

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By Catherine L Yap-Yang

August 4, 2006 at 4:00 AM UTC

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Three years ago, Wayne Fox was one of 20 members of an Iowa delegation that met with Fidel Castro in Havana. In a session that lasted from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. the next day, Castro peppered Fox, chief executive of Des Moines farm products company Triple F, and the rest of group with questions about the nutritional virtues of soy milk and other farm products. "I had a feeling when I left that room that he would have bought from me on the spot,"says Fox.

It was, of course, not to be. And despite speculation about a regime change sparked by Castro's recent health crisis, Fox's aspirations will likely remain on hold, as must those of other executives at U.S. companies like Jet Blue Airways (JBLU), Marriott International (MAR), Coca-Cola (KO), and Caterpillar (CAT).