III. U.S. Restrictions on U.S. Scientists

According to a flyer from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (see Appendix IX), special licenses may be issued on a case by case basis to persons engaging in 1) humanitarian travel, and 2) travel in connection with professional research or similar activities, for clearly defined educational or religious activities, or for purposes related to the exportation, importation, or transmission of information and informational materials, including provision of telecommunication services.30

Scientists who wish to obtain a specific license to travel to Cuba for educational or professional research purposes must submit a written application to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.31 The Office of Foreign Assets Control requests thirty days notice to process the applications and encourages those seeking to travel during holidays or in the summer months to submit applications up to forty-five days in advance.32 Authorized travelers are limited to spending no more than $100 per day on expenses directly related to travel, such as hotel accommodations, meals, local transportation, and goods personally used by the traveler in Cuba. No more than $100 of Cuban merchandise may be brought to the United States.

In the 1994 hearing referred to in the Introduction, Dr. Mary Gray, currently co-chair of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, pointed out that there is no reason for singling out Cuba for the imposition of these restrictions on scientific freedom. She noted that at the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government imposed no such restrictions on the travel of its scientists to the Soviet Union or to the countries of Eastern Europe. In her testimony, Dr. Gray cited specific instances where restrictions on travel to Cuba have had a negative effect on scientists from the United States. They include:

1. Members of the American Mathematical Society attempting to attend the Second International Conference on Approximation and Optimization in the Caribbean were denied travel licenses to Havana in 1993. The meeting was certified by ICSU. On the other hand, members of the American Association of Engineering Societies were granted travel licenses to attend a professional meeting in Cuba just weeks later. The reason for the denial was stated as being the half-day of free time allotted during the mathematics meeting.
2. Dr. Gray was herself invited to give some talks at a Cuban Mathematical Society meeting in Havana. Dr. Gray was asked to provide a copy of each of the seventy books that were listed on her curriculum vitae. She was asked if the research that she was to present was of any value, presumably to assure that it would not be of any economic value to Cuba.33

Rather than comply with what she deemed to be an unreasonable request, Dr. Gray did what we believe many scientists have done: she left the office and declined the invitation. Alternatively, a number of scientists choose to travel to Cuba without the benefit of a license, thereby risking serious legal sanctions.

At the same hearing, Dr. Audrey Chapman reported the denial of licenses to the American Psychological Association in 1987 when it applied for a group license for U.S. participants to the XXI InterAmerican Congress of Psychology held in Havana. She also pointed to difficulties faced by trustees of the American Museum of Natural History seeking to organize a trip to visit paleontology projects the Museum helped to develop in Cuba, and by a group of librarians attempting to take part in a conference in Cuba.

AAAS has gathered numerous such anecdotal accounts. (Please see Appendix II for a description of the History of Science Society’s experience regarding their application for licenses for travel to Cuba.) The consequences of these policies on U.S. scientists are further illustrated by responses submitted by three chemists, including one Nobel laureate, to an invitation from the Cuban Chemical Society to participate in their Third Congress. All three point to U.S. Treasury Department restrictions as a major impediment to their possible participation.

In addition, relatively low-level Treasury and State Department officials have discretion to decide which visa and travel license requests are "legitimately" related to academic and professional pursuits. A government agency is screening the professional activities of reputable scientific groups and member scientists and making judgments as to the legitimacy of their activities and the suitability of their travel.34 The scientific community is founded on the principle that scientific peers must review professional work. Government interference with travel violates that principle.

The AAAS Science and Human Rights Program is currently awaiting action on a Freedom of Information Act request submitted on July 24, 1996, to obtain information about all applications for licenses to travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens for educational or scientific purposes. As part of that request, AAAS is also seeking Department of Treasury documents justifying the denial of any request. When these documents are received, AAAS will be able to conduct a thorough analysis of the effect of U.S. travel policy on travel to Cuba for scientific purposes.

The denial of licenses to U.S. scientists for travel to Cuba is only one consequence of the restrictive U.S. travel policy. The purpose of the AAAS mission to Cuba was to document another: its effect on Cuban scientists requesting entry visas to the United States to conduct scientific work.

30. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control, What You Need to Know About the U.S. Embargo: Overview of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Title 31 Part 515 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulation (Washington, D.C., April 1996).

31. License requests should be addressed to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20220, Fax: 202 622 1657. Requests should clearly state the intent of the visit and should be accompanied by the applicant's resume, as well as any material relevant to the purpose of travel.

32. Clara David (presentation at meeting of AAAS, Washington, D.C., April 1998).

33. Senate Committee, The Constitutional Right to International Travel, 99.

34. Iles and Sklar, The Right to Travel, 32.