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WITH U.S.–CUBA TRADE<br />
LOOMING, GREATER<br />
TAMPA IS LEVERAGING ITS<br />
DEEP HISTORIC LINK TO<br />
THE ISLAND NATION<br />
As U.S. regions jockey for business and other links with<br />
Cuba, the Tampa Bay region has one big advantage on its<br />
side: history. No place in the United States shares as long<br />
and rich a historical connection to the island as Tampa Bay.<br />
The western Florida region is where, nearly 500 years ago,<br />
the first Spanish explorer from Cuba came ashore to check out<br />
North America. It’s where cigarmakers from Cuba started setting<br />
up factories in the 1880s, attracting Cuban workers and earning<br />
Tampa the nickname “Cigar Capital of the World.”<br />
It’s where Cuban independence leader José Martí repeatedly<br />
visited in the 1890s seeking funds and support to liberate his<br />
homeland from Spain. And it’s where Teddy Roosevelt and his<br />
Rough Riders cavalry kept their headquarters before heading off<br />
to Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898.<br />
Many in Tampa Bay want to build on that legacy now that<br />
the United States and Cuba have restored diplomatic ties after<br />
a 54-year break. With the U.S. embargo limiting most business<br />
with the island, they’re forging wide-ranging links, from marine<br />
70 CUBATRADE MARCH 2017
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