Close but no cigars after vacation trip to Cuba By Katie V. Jones

Close but no cigars after vacation trip to Cuba

By Katie V. Jones, katievjones@aim.com June 23, 2014

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-chamber-cuba-0622-20140623-story.html

It was an adventure of a lifetime.

On June 1, about 40 members of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce returned from an eight-night, nine-day trip to Cuba. The cultural exchange trip offered a look into a country many Americans do not get a chance to see – but should, according to those who went.

[…]

They flew in from Miami and landed in Camaguey, Cuba's third-largest city. Known for its clay pots, the city dates back to the 1500s. Also on the itinerary were trips to the colonial city of Trinidad with a stop at a village of approximately 70 sugar mills, and visits to Cienfuegos, the Bay of Pigs and Havana.

Only recently have Americans been allowed to visit Cuba, and those visits are only through people to people and authorized venues. An ongoing embargo with the U.S. prevents trade with Cuba. No one on the trip was allowed to bring home anything, according to Yingling, especially Cuban cigars, coffee or rum.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-chamber-cuba-0622-20140623-story.html

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19990901 Cuban Ambassador Vicki Huddleston State Department Bio

Cuban Ambassador Vicki Huddleston State Department Bio

September 1999

Biography

Vicki Huddleston

Principal Officer, USINT, Havana, Cuba

http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/cuba/huddleston_vicki.html

In September 1999, Ambassador Vicki Huddleston, a career Foreign Service Officer, became Principal Officer at the United States Interests Section (USINT), Havana, Cuba. Over the past two years, she has been Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs with responsibility for West and Francophone Central Africa. She was United States Ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar from 1995-1997.

Ambassador Huddleston was Deputy Chief of Mission in Port-au-Prince from 1993-1995 during the deployment of the Multinational Force to Haiti. She was Deputy and then Coordinator of the State Department's Office of Cuban Affairs from 1989-1993.

Earlier in her career, she was chief of the Economic Sections in Sierra Leone and in Mali. She has worked in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, the Office of Mexican Affairs, and as Country Desk Officer for Bolivia. In 1988-1989, while working for Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, she drafted the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) legislation which became law in 1990. Prior to entering the Foreign Service, she worked in Peru and Brazil for the American Institute for Free Labor Development. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru, she organized the financing for the two housing cooperatives in Arequipa.

Ambassador Huddleston has received four Superior Honor Awards and two Meritorious Honor Awards. In 1994-1995, she shared with members of the U.S. Embassy in Haiti the Distinguished Service Award and the Award for Valor. Her husband Robert is a retired Foreign Service Officer. Arizona is her home state.

Cuba

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