Havana, May 23 (RHC) -- The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has criticised the U.S. government’s denial of visas to Cuban scientists who were invited to attend to an event that is underway in San Francisco, California.

In a message to Sergio Jorge Pastrana, president of the Cuban Academy of Science, WOLA’s Geoff Thale strongly condemned the Barack Obama administration for denying entry visas to the Cuban experts.  The decision barred Rafael Hernández, Carlos Alzugaray and Soraya Castro from participating in the Conference of the Latin American Studies Association, which got underway on Wednesday and concludes on Sunday, May 27th.

Thale questioned the criteria for denying the visas and recalled that scientists have visited the United States in the past.  He added that the denials were offensive, pointing out that Cubans had participated in the LASA Conference for over two decades.  He noted that in 2004, when U.S. President George W. Bush adopted a similar position, the organization decided to hold the conference outside the United States in protest.

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