WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (AFP): A group of US senators presented a bill to Congress yesterday seeking to clarify a law that permits the sale of agricultural produce and food to Cuba, thus ending a controversy that has jeopardized authorised trade with the communist island. The bill, presented by some 20 Republican and Democratic senators, clarifies details of 2001 legislation that allowed US firms to sell medicines and agricultural produce to Cuba as long as the government of President Fidel Castro pays cash in advance. A dispute in interpreting the law had pitted US exporters since November with the US Treasury Department, which had asked banks to block sale of foodstuffs and medicine to Cuba. "The Agricultural Export Facilitation Act (2005) will ensure that (agricultural producers ... all over the country) can keep the market and continue to sell their products to Cuba as they have done without incident for several years," said Senator Max Baucus, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. "Today, I will not allow bureaucrats to reinterpret Congress' original intent and obstruct already established legal trade," said Senator Larry Craig, as the bill was unveiled. The bill defines cash payment in advance as receipt of payment before transfer of title and release of physical control of goods to the purchaser.
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