Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Cuba says US blocks academic, sports travel
02-07-2007

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Cuba criticized the United States on Tuesday for denying visas to Cuban intellectuals invited to a Soviet studies conference and barring American cyclists from competing in Cuba.

Ten Cuban academics and writers were refused visas to attend a discussion on "Cuba-USSR and the Post-Soviet Experience" at the University of Connecticut on Friday, the state news agency Prensa Latina said.

The ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma reported that a team of US cyclists planning to compete in next week's Tour of Cuba will not make the event because US officials told them they needed six weeks to process the travel permits.

"Once again the government of the United States bars its athletes from traveling to Cuba," said Granma's front page headline.

A US ban on travel, enforced after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution steered Cuba toward socialism, bars Americans from visiting the island without specific licenses from the Treasury Department.

The Bush administration has restricted the permits as part of its efforts since 2004 to reinforce sanctions against Havana and press for political change under Cuba's one-party state.

During the Clinton administration, cultural and sports exchanges were encouraged with Cuba and the Cuban national baseball team played against the Baltimore Orioles.

Last month, Washington denied travel permits to the US Greco-Roman wrestling team which had planned to train in Cuba.

The Cuban intellectuals denied visas to go to Connecticut included Desiderio Navarro, a writer who led an unprecedented debate last week on Stalinist-style cultural purges in Cuba during the early 1970s.

Since the 80-year-old Castro temporarily handed over power to his brother after undergoing surgery six months ago, the US government has increased broadcasts of anti-Castro television and radio programs beamed at the island.

In the past, Cuba has jammed the TV Marti signal funded by US taxpayers.

On Monday, Cuba blasted Washington for buying broadcast time for TV Marti on a Spanish-language station in Miami that can be seen by Cubans using illegal satellite dishes.