U.S. Is Preventing Scientist from Attending a Conference in Cuba
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- Health and Medicine
- Politics and Government
- 09 / 07 / 2009
The president of the Cuban Orthopedics Association said the U.S. government was “hindering” the travel of American scientists to a conference that will be held this month on the island, state media reported.
Rodrigo Alvarez Cambras said the American doctors have not managed to obtain the permission from the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. State Department that they need to travel to Cuba because of the economic and trade embargo that Washington has enforced against the island since 1962.
Alvarez Cambras emphasized that the problems give evidence of “the unchanging permanence of the embargo,” and he said he regretted that the Americans will not be able to accept the invitation to participate in the 20th International Orthopedics Conference, which starts Sept. 21.
The doctor, who is also a lawmaker and heads the organizing committee in the Cuban national legislature, did not reveal the names of the U.S. doctors who had been invited, but the official weekly Opciones reported Sunday that the delegation from that country would consist of John Feagin, Merrill Richter, F. Chadwick Smith and William B. Stetson, among others.
Cuba expects about 400 specialists from around the world to attend the conference, with most of the foreign participants coming from Mexico, Spain, Canada, Japan, Argentina, Russia, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Germany, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Yemen.
The Cuban complaint came one day after the government of U.S. President Barack Obama implemented measures announced in April to relax the blockade in certain areas.
The announcement of the entry into force of those measures did not receive any acknowledgment in the main state-run Cuban media, and only on the Web site Cubadebate was it published and chastised as being a “cosmetic veneer.”
The new rules make travel and the sending of remittances to Cuba by Cuban-American citizens easier and establish other regulations to improve communications between the two countries, but the regulations governing academic, sports, cultural and scientific exchanges remain in place between the two nations.
Source: Herald Tribune
Rodrigo Alvarez Cambras said the American doctors have not managed to obtain the permission from the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. State Department that they need to travel to Cuba because of the economic and trade embargo that Washington has enforced against the island since 1962.
Alvarez Cambras emphasized that the problems give evidence of “the unchanging permanence of the embargo,” and he said he regretted that the Americans will not be able to accept the invitation to participate in the 20th International Orthopedics Conference, which starts Sept. 21.
The doctor, who is also a lawmaker and heads the organizing committee in the Cuban national legislature, did not reveal the names of the U.S. doctors who had been invited, but the official weekly Opciones reported Sunday that the delegation from that country would consist of John Feagin, Merrill Richter, F. Chadwick Smith and William B. Stetson, among others.
Cuba expects about 400 specialists from around the world to attend the conference, with most of the foreign participants coming from Mexico, Spain, Canada, Japan, Argentina, Russia, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Germany, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Yemen.
The Cuban complaint came one day after the government of U.S. President Barack Obama implemented measures announced in April to relax the blockade in certain areas.
The announcement of the entry into force of those measures did not receive any acknowledgment in the main state-run Cuban media, and only on the Web site Cubadebate was it published and chastised as being a “cosmetic veneer.”
The new rules make travel and the sending of remittances to Cuba by Cuban-American citizens easier and establish other regulations to improve communications between the two countries, but the regulations governing academic, sports, cultural and scientific exchanges remain in place between the two nations.
Source: Herald Tribune
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