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5. NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON ACADEMIC, SCIENTIFIC, CULTURAL AND SPORTING EXCHANGES BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES

Free academic, scientific, cultural and sporting exchange among peoples is a right widely recognized by the international community. No people has been subjected to as many limitations in this regard as the peoples of Cuba and the United States.

The restriction of the freedom to travel, through sanctions and threats against U.S. citizens who want to visit Cuba, along with the denial of visas for scientists, artists, athletes and other Cuban personalities, are the measures most commonly used to obstruct this exchange.

There are countless regulations that prevent U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba. The sanctions established for the violation of these regulations include prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to a million dollars for corporations and 250,000 for private citizens. Civil penalties of up to 55,000 dollars for each violation can also be applied.

The absurdity of this policy is fully illustrated by the following example: In November of 2002, the Annual Assembly of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) was held in Honolulu. The meeting included a seminar on the potential for travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens. The vice president of ASTA, Mr. Paul Ruben, told the press that ASTA had never carried out a program that was so heavily regulated. The participants had to sign forms declaring that they understood that travel to Cuba is subject to severe restrictions. The seminar was simply meant to be educational and informative.

At the same time, with the clear intention of preventing the people of the United States from learning the truth about Cuba, restrictions are imposed on travel to the United States by Cuban personalities. Visas may be denied or delayed, or administrative procedures are imposed which entail greater difficulty in requesting a visa (personal interviews with applicants, fingerprint requirements, increased fees for new procedures, among others).

Every day a growing number of U.S. citizens and members of Congress voice their opposition to this policy. Nevertheless, the current administration has not only maintained it, but stepped it up even further.

Meanwhile, when a growing number of educational institutions in the United States began visiting Cuba, the U.S. government, as part of its escalation in aggression towards Cuba, announced this past March 24 that it was introducing new measures to even further restrict these exchanges. As a result of this, for example, the parents of young Americans who plan to study in Cuba will have to obtain a special license to visit their children.

Is this policy in any way rational? Who does this policy benefit, aside from the extreme right wing in the United States and the Cuban-American terrorist mob in Miami?

Here are just a few more illustrative examples.

Visas to travel to the United States were denied to the Cuban artists nominated for Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Musicians of the stature of Chucho Valdés, Lázaro Ross, Grupo Sampling and Equis Alfonso were not allowed to participate in the awards ceremony, which is inexplicable when one considers that some of them had traveled to the United States on various occasions in the past.

There have been cases in which the United States has granted visas to musical groups but denied permission to individual members. An example is the case of the prestigious Orquesta Aragón. The group was invited to carry out a tour of a number of cities in the United States, and even to give a performance at the United Nations headquarters, yet visas were denied to group members Roberto Espinosa and Rafael Lay; the latter is also the director of the group.

It is important to keep in mind that in the competitive entertainment market, agents and promoters must make prior expenditures on the booking of performance venues, reservations for travel and accommodation, contracts for needed infrastructure, and others. The difficulties involved in guaranteeing the presence of the artists at the performances agreed upon, months or even years in advance, signify an enormous risk in the case of Cuban artists, because they can never safely guarantee their presence in the venues foreseen, given the constant threat that visas will be denied or delayed.

This, of course, leads to reticence among agents when it comes to planning tours for Cuban artists, for despite the fact that they may be highly sought after for certain concert circuits, festivals and other venues, the possibility of incurring financial losses considerably limits the interest of agents and event organizers.

U.S. guitarist Ry Cooder, one of the individuals responsible for the international success of the Buena Vista Social Club, was forced by his government to suspend his collaboration with Cuban musicians. The government of President George W. Bush prohibited him from returning to work with musicians on the island and imposed a fine of 100,000 dollars on him, in accordance with the stipulations of the blockade. Cooder had worked with Cuban artists like Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo, Eliades Ochoa and Ibrahím Ferrer, winners of a Grammy for the Buena Vista Social Club and nominees for an Oscar thanks to the documentary of the same name by German director Wim Wenders.

What reasons could justify the fact that the U.S. authorities assume the right to censor the music and art of the world accessible to U.S. citizens? How is it possible that their goal of hegemonic domination can prevent the enjoyment of the right to cultural, scientific, technical and educational exchange between the peoples of Cuba and the United States, a right endorsed by numerous internationally recognized human rights instruments?

In the area of sports, in the space of barely 11 months, visas were denied to 39 athletes who were to participate in five international events, including the Men's Basketball World Championship, held in December of 2002 in Puerto Rico, and the World Wrestling Cup, in April of 2003.

More than ten visa applications from Cuban scientists were turned down in just one year. For instance, Dr. Luis Herrera, general director of the prestigious Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center, was denied a visa to travel to the United States to participate in two events on vaccines, including the International Conference on Vaccines and Immunization organized by the Pan American Health Organization.

The irrational insanity in the application of these sanctions reaches such an extreme as to affect even the United Nations. Suffice it to say that a visa was denied to Eusebio Leal, the Havana City Historian, who had been invited by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to participate in a meeting of all Goodwill Ambassadors and Peace Messengers, a distinction held by Leal.

Visas have also been denied to other Cuban officials and diplomats scheduled to participate in international events held in U.S. territory. On May 13, 2003, the U.S. authorities refused to grant visas for participation in a meeting of the Global Environment Fund (GEF) Council to the director of International Cooperation at the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment and a specialist from the same department. The former was supposed to be there to represent the interests of the 16 countries of the Fund's Caribbean division, given that Cuba is a member of the same.

The stepping up of sanctions by the current U.S. administration in relation to travel to Cuba has been demonstrated by the hundreds of letters sent by the Treasury Department, the application of hundreds of fines, and harassment and legal action against U.S. citizens resident in the United States for alleged violations of the blockade against Cuba and the travel ban.

The OFAC relentlessly threatens and harasses institutions and organizations that plan to visit Cuba. There are countless examples of pressures exerted on NGOs that have licenses to travel to Cuba, aimed at subordinating them to the anti-Cuban interests of the U.S. government. The granting of licenses is delayed or flatly denied as a method of exerting pressure.

The most recent example is the case of U.S. NGO Population Services International (PSI), which is carrying out three cooperation projects in conjunction with the National AIDS Prevention Center of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health and UNAIDS. The projects are aimed at the marketing of condoms around the country and informational campaigns for the prevention of the disease.

PSI managed to renew its Treasury Department license in April of 2003, under the condition that the project cooperant, Pamela Rita Faura, who was temporarily living in Cuba for the purposes of the project itself, would only remain in Cuba for two weeks of every month. This means that she is continually obliged to travel to nearby countries and subsequently return to Cuba in order to continue her work. The goal of this measure is to force the NGO to withdraw from our country in view of the high travel costs incurred as a result of the measure.

The continued application of the policy of blockade by the U.S. government constitutes clear defiance of the majority opinion of the U.S. public and the values shared by the community of nations with regard to cultural, academic, scientific and sporting exchanges.

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