Southern governor to head trade trip to Cuba

President Barack Obama may lift some trade restrictions on Cuba.
President Barack Obama may lift some trade restrictions on Cuba.
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is going to take a lead role in a trade group that will head to Cuba in June.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bert Brantley, a spokesman for the Republican governor, said that Perdue feels as though the economic opportunities offered to Georgia by lifting a federal embargo on the Communist country outweigh any ideological differences.

"At the end of the day, the governor believes good policy makes good politics," Brantley told the paper.

Currently only a few types of products, including some produced with farm equipment, are allowed to be exported to the country, the paper said. President Barack Obama may lift some of the trade restrictions put on the country by the U.S.

However, the president also recently criticized the country for its human rights record. Obama called on Cuba to release its political prisoners and end oppression in the Caribbean country.

Obama was prompted to make his statement after a number of oppressive actions were witnessed in Cuba. Recently, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a Cuban political activist, died after staging a hunger strike that lasted 83 days.
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