Ex-Senator Bob Graham Heads To Cuba To Discuss Oil Drilling, Environment

Diario Las Americas reported on Monday that Bob Graham, former Florida governor and influential Democratic senator, visited Cuba this week to discuss the island nation’s preliminary drilling for offshore oil deposits. He joined about a dozen experts on energy and the environment on a trip organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, which in the past has expressed concern over the possibility that an oil spill occasioned by Cuban crews could wash up on US shores, leading to environmental damage and triggering a diplomatic fiasco.

In an interview last Saturday with the Naples Daily News, Graham echoed the CFR’s earlier concerns, saying, "It's very important for the nation, and particularly important for Florida that any drilling done in that area be done at a very high standard of safety and with the capability to respond if there is an accident.” He added, “The reason for the trip is to talk to the Cubans, try to better understand what their plans are, what their capabilities are, and, frankly, how the international community ... can cooperate in a way to ensure that Cuba drills at the highest level of international safety standards."

Diario Las Americas notes that unlike the CFR, Graham was a supporter of the US embargo on Cuba during his 30 years in public office, a stance which helped him win broad support among much of south Florida’s large Cuban population.

The trip comes as Cuba continues to accelerate its quest for energy self-sufficiency; the Naples Daily News notes that some 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels of oil are thought to be offshore. But in the past two years, four exploratory wells drilled off the island’s northern coast have turned out to be dry. Graham admitted to the paper that he didn’t know for sure if the group would be meeting with Cuban officials, but said he was “confident that they're not sending us down there to meet with people who don't have some ability to affect the decisions” of the government or private investors.