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Mayor Renner Heads To Havana

Rafael Rodrigues
/
Creative Commons

Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner will be part of a central Illinois trade delegation to Cuba put together by former State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.
    
Some Illinois Congressmen have said after they have made trips to the island nation that it remains difficult to develop relationships because of the dual currency the Castro regime maintains and because of official government control of marketplaces.

But, Renner said daily U.S. air service has begun from Tampa to Havana and that will erode that control.

"The regular connections are going to happen irrespective of the regime. And in our situation we will be being mostly with local government officials. And hopefully we can work with them directly because obviously part of this is trying to promote agribusiness," said Renner.

Renner says he also plans to visit two Bloomington Sister Cities in Cuba, and revive those connections.
     
"We might very well be able to have some of the educational cultural exchanges we have with our Japanese, Russian, and English Sister Cities," said Renner.

The delegation going to Cuba October 8-15 includes 20 people including several Mayors and the Mayor of Havana, Illinois.

WGLT Senior Reporter Charlie Schlenker has spent more than three award-winning decades in radio. He lives in Normal with his family.