California Could Benefit From Better US-Cuba Relations

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee is back from Cuba. And the United States is back with Cuba, too, which could mean good things for California businesses.

Industries including technology, biotech and agriculture might all be bolstered by the new, closer ties between the two countries announced Wednesday.

Relations will be closer than they have been at any other time since the early 1960s, when the U.S. broke off diplomatic ties with Fidel Castro's newly-communist state.

And at some point, the 50-year-old embargo on trade will be lifted as well, according to reports.

Lee has lobbied for decades to make Cuban-American relations closer, and on Wednesday she hailed President Barack Obama's announcement to move toward normalized relations with the Caribbean nation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Business leaders, some of whom claim to have made more than 50 trips to Cuba despite the embargo on trade and limitations on tourists, said closer ties present an opportunity.

For example, only 5 percent of Cubans have Internet access, according to the San Francisco Examiner. That would seem to present a chance for tech companies.