TAMPA --
The latest in a career of assignments with the federal government brought Francisco "Frank" Sánchez back home to Tampa last week.
Appointed by President Barack Obama as undersecretary of commerce for international trade, Sánchez was keynote speaker at the Hispanic Community Action Summit, organized by the White House.
He took advantage of the visit to formalize a local-federal partnership aimed at promoting exports from Tampa, where Sánchez has deep roots. Born in Ybor City, his mother, Delia Sánchez, was a child-welfare worker who helped bring Tampa its first Head Start program.
Sánchez, 52, received his law degree from Florida State University and master's degree in public administration from Harvard. He has worked in Latin American relations much of his career — with former Gov. Bob Graham, as an attorney and consultant, and in the Clinton administration.
He also ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Tampa against Pam Iorio and served as an adviser in Obama's presidential campaign before his appointment in the Commerce Department.
In an interview during his visit with CENTRO Tampa, the weekly Spanish-language publication and affiliate of The Tampa Tribune, Sánchez talked about new free-trade agreements, U.S. relations with Cuba and Tampa's growth potential.
Here are excerpts from the interview.
Q: What is the position of President Obama's administration toward Cuba?
A: Barack Obama, as a candidate, talked about the change he would bring to the U.S. policy towards Cuba. He spoke of doing two things.
First, he believes the best U.S. ambassadors in Cuba are Cuban-American citizens. Unfortunately, for many years, the ability of Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba had been restricted, and he promised to change that so that Cuban-Americans could travel as much as
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