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Vic Mellor, a Republican businessman, veteran of the Marine Corps, and candidate for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District, traveled to Cuba this Wednesday to meet with business and humanitarian leaders on the island with the aim of establishing trade partnerships for his state.
The trip, announced through an official statement from his campaign distributed by EINPresswire, is part of a strategy to position Rhode Island as a key trade partner should the United States and Cuba normalize their relations in the future.
Mellor has been cultivating relationships with Cuban-American leaders for over five years, including a sustained collaboration with the Cuban-American Chamber of Commerce, which earned him a formal invitation to visit the island.
On May 20th, just a week before the trip, the candidate hosted a business summit in Miami to celebrate Cuba's Independence Day, bringing together Cuban-American leaders and entrepreneurs from Rhode Island to explore what his campaign classifies as a potential market of over 100 billion dollars.
"Building relationships that create economic opportunities while also helping those in need defines responsible leadership," Mellor stated in the announcement.
The candidate argues that Rhode Island's manufacturing base—which includes construction materials, medical devices, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing—positions the state to compete if a new hemispheric market opens.
The delegation also has a humanitarian component: it will visit the Cathedral of San Cristóbal in Havana and the Basilica of El Cobre near Santiago de Cuba, as well as hospitals and educational institutions in both cities, where it will deliver medical supplies and educational materials.
The trip is intriguing given the current political context. The Trump administration has intensified pressure on the Cuban regime: in January, it signed an executive order declaring the Havana government an "unusual and extraordinary threat," and in May, EO 14404 expanded the sanctions regime with secondary measures to deter non-U.S. companies from doing business with the island.
Cuban-American Republican congress members such as María Elvira Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart, and Carlos Giménez requested in February from the Trump administration to revoke the commercial licenses with Cuba, a stance that stands in stark contrast to that of Mellor.
Cuba is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades, with blackouts lasting up to 30 hours a day, an inflation rate of 13.42% year-on-year, and a cumulative contraction of 23% since 2019. Economist Pedro Monreal warned of a possible drop in Cuban GDP of up to 15% in an extreme scenario by 2026.
Mellor is competing against the Democratic incumbent Seth Magaziner, who was reelected in 2024 with 58.2% of the votes. The primaries are scheduled for September 9, and the general elections for November 3, 2026.
"Rhode Island has suffered the consequences of forty years of decisions that diverted our opportunities elsewhere. If a future opening creates the opportunity for Rhode Island residents to work to meet real needs in our hemisphere, I want our state to be ready to step in. That readiness begins with relationships, and relationships begin with presence," concluded Mellor.
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