• State Department denies visas to specialists from Molecular
                   Immunology Center

                   CUBA has condemned the U.S. State Department’s refusal to grant
                   visas to outstanding Cuban researchers who were to participate in an
                   event on the fight against cancer, scheduled for Orlando, Florida.

                   A note from Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), issued on
                   May 16 in Havana, stated that this decision by the United States is an
                   "attack by the U.S. government on science and on Cuban scientists."

                   The text explains that the decision to reject visas for Adriana Carr
                   Pérez and Tania Crombet Ramos, researchers at the Molecular
                   Immunology Center, was communicated to MINREX’s North America
                   Department by officials from the U.S. Interest Section in Havana.

                   These two women are "specialists in the development of new
                   treatments (vaccines and antibodies) for cancer, who should have
                   traveled to Florida to take part in the American Society of Clinical
                   Oncology’s annual meeting, May 18-21," highlights the note.

                   "In the case of Mauricio Catalá Ferrer, a cancer specialist at CIMEQ
                   hospital, U.S. authorities informed that his permission was still being
                   processed, but they doubted whether it would be ready before two
                   or three days more, if it is finally granted," continues the note.

                   "The U.S. authorities are trying to ignore the fact that measures of
                   this type are damaging to the U.S. scientific community and prevent
                   discussion and analysis of Cuban scientists’ work, even at the cost of
                   their own citizens’ health," the statement pointed out.

                   "Science and fighting cancer should not be hostage to petty political
                   interests," it stressed.

                   Thus, "the U.S. government is trying to impede frank, open and
                   constructive debate among specialists from various parts of the
                   world desirous of sharing their experiences, scientific research results
                   and other aspects of the fight against this disease, which kills more
                   than half a million people in the United States every year."

                   In just the last two years, the White House had denied visas on six
                   occasions to experts from the Molecular Immunology Center, the
                   official statement adds.

                   On that same day (May 16), the Molecular Immunology Center sent
                   a letter to the organizers of the American Society of Clinical
                   Oncology, informing that body that the two specialists will be unable
                   to attend the forum.

                   "We have the duty of informing you, and through you the whole
                   cancer research community, that two researchers from our team will
                   not be able to participate in the annual meeting, because the State
                   Department has denied them visas to travel to that country," the
                   letter states.

                   It goes on to enumerate some of the work undertaken by those two
                   specialists in the fight against cancer.

                   "It hurts us to see this type of political interference in medical and
                   scientific research occurring at the dawn of the 21st century," insists
                   the message, signed by Dr. Agustin Lage, director of the Molecular
                   Immunology Center.