"Fidel Castro meets with more than 100 Americans before leaving for Asia"
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"A package of news briefs from the Caribbean"
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"Cuba negotiating to buy millions in U.S. farm products"
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"[Sen. Kent] Conrad arrives in Cuba on trade visit"
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Christian Science Monitor

"Scores of U.S. business executives are now making the trip... valuable contracts are being established. The vital Washington link for U.S. businessmen wishing to visit Cuba can be found in a downtown Washington, D.C. building just several blocks from the White House called Alamar Associates."

Los Angeles Magazine

"Nobody has developed more contacts inside Havana than Jones has..."

San Francisco Chronicle

"To observe Jones' accomplishments at its most dramatic it is necessary to go to San Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Cuba. Most months Jones can be observed there hustling through customs a fresh contingent of American businessmen."

The Dallas News

"Despite embargo, Cuba sees future in U.S. visitors...

Americans are once again flocking to Cuba. Senators from Washington, business moguls from Oklahoma, and tourists from Illinois are streaming in to the land of cigars, rum, and Fidel Castro."

"Just this week, the Young Presidents Organization - a Dallas-based group whose members include CEOs under 50 yeasr of age - sent 500 visitors, most of them from the United States.
'I think it's the largest single group of Americans that has visited Cuba in more than 40 years,' said Kirby Jones, a U.S. expert on Cuba who accompanied the group."

"Mr. Jones, who has traveled to Cuba regularly for more than 26 years, said he believed that these visits do influence U.S. policy.
'Look at this,' he said as hundreds of members of the Young Presidents Organization walked into a private, open-air dinner held for them next to the centuries-old Havana Cathedral. 'You have the U.S government saying there's an embargo on Cuba, that you can't travel to Cuba. But 100 CEOs are here, saying, 'I want to find out about this country.' They're voting with their feet."

Associated Press

"About 100 young, mostly American businessmen arrived Thursday [in Havana] for a visit that Cuban officials hope will revive U.S. interest in lifting trade sanctions against the Communist country.
The representatives of the Young Presidents Organization and their families - about 500 people in all - are among the nearly 2,000 Americans who will be traveling to Cuba in January under licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department."

"The visits demonstrate revived U.S. interest in Cuba after attention was diverted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States,' said Kirby Jones, a Cuba trade consultant."

"'I think people are becoming energized about Cuba again because of the sales,' Jones said. 'Now Cuba has done some real business.'
Jones noted the visits also come amid renewed efforst in Congress to ease the 40-year-old trade embargo against Cuba and to elimate U.S. restrictions on American travel to the nation."

The Washington Post

"More than 50 American business executives traveled to Havana to explore trade and investment prospects in Cuba. The executives, some from major U.S. corporations, took part in a U.S.-Cuba business summit organized by Washington-based consultants Alamar Associates."

The New York Times

"The conferences in Mexico and Cuba brought together executives from big corporations like Caterpillar, Texaco, Mobil Oil, Continental Grain, Pharmacia and Upjohn and Bristol-Myers Squibb."

The Sunday Star Ledger

"Cuba rolled out a revolutionary red carpet: President Fidel Castro, Vice President Carlos Lage, ministers of economy, tourism and foreign investment came to meet the visitors..."

The Journal of Commerce

"Cuba sent out a high level welcome to the visiting Americans who include representatives of major drug, oil, food and transportation operations, as well as attorneys and consultants"

The Boston Globe

"For the third time in 18 months, a group of U.S. business leaders gathered in [Cancun] to learn more about a country they can't yet touch. For four days last week, representatives met with Cuban government and economic ministers on issues ranging from agribusiness to commercial banking."

U.S. News

"Dozens of top executives flocked to [Cancun] this month to quiz Castro's ministers about investment opportunities"