AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

AAAS is concerned about the recent denial of U.S. entry visas to five Cuban scientists seeking to travel to the U.S. to present a symposium on their work at the Sannibel Island Symposium on Quantum Chemistry and to engage in scientific exchange with their colleagues at Clark Atlanta University, Cornell University, and the University of Florida from 5 to 10 March 1997. AAAS has learned of at least five other such recent visa denials to bona fide scientists.

The five Cuban scientists applying for US entry visas to present their work are: Luis Alberto Montero, head of the Theory Group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Havana, and his colleagues Juan Raul Alvarez Idaboy, Mario Piris Silvera, Jorge Llano Perez, and Irina Diaz Costa.

The right to travel is an internationally-recognized human right that has special significance for members of the scientific and academic communities worldwide. Scientific and academic societies as well as international bodies such as the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have recognized the right to travel to be essential for the effective conduct of science and other academic pursuits.

The denial of visas to scientists seeking to engage in legitimate international scientific work constitutes an infringement on the free exchange of information on which the U.S. and international scientific communities are dependent. It is contrary to U.S. stated policy that bona fide scientists on scientific exchange (and educational purposes) are exempt from whatever other restrictions that may apply.

The denial of U.S. visas to scientists results in the exclusion of research universities and major scientific conferences from international collaboration and discourse. It may lead to the relocation of important scientific meetings to foreign countries and ultimately could damage domestics scientific credibility.

(Sources of information include the American Physical Society and the New York Academy of Science.)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telexes, telegrams, faxes, or airmail letters:

• expressing concern about the denial of U.S. entry visas to bona fide scientists seeking to engage in legitimate scientific activities in the United States;
• urging U.S. officials to grant visas to the five scientists named above; and
• requesting that the U.S. government adhere to its stated policy allowing the free exchange of scientists.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Michael Kozak USINT Havana
Department of State
Washington, DC 20521-3200

COPIES SENT TO:

US Department of State Office of Cuba Affairs
Fax: 202 736 4476

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