BY MACEO DIXON
BOSTON - Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir was notified March 29 by the U.S. State Department that Cuban youth leaders Maika Guerrero and Iroel Sánchez were denied visas to come to the United States. The two Cubans were invited by 119 professors and student groups from 73 universities in 22 states to visit the United States in April for a series of lectures primarily on campuses. Guerrero and Sánchez are associate researchers at the Center of Studies for Youth in Havana. They are also members of the Union of Young Communists.
Their speaking tour is hosted by the Faculty-Students Cuban Youth Lectures Committee based at the Roxbury Community College here. Kaiser-Lenoir, who teaches at the Romance Language Department at Tufts University in the area and is one of the national coordinators of the lectures committee, spoke by telephone with Sean Murphy of the State Department's Cuba desk.
"On the telephone, Mr. Murphy... said the denial was based on Section 2-12F of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which gives the president the right to deny entry into the U.S. to employees and officials of the Cuban government," Kaiser-Lenoir stated.
" `Given that Cuba is a totalitarian society,' Mr. Murphy said, any Cuban is viewed as technically an official or employee of the state. Visas are denied, he said, `whenever the president finds that entry would be detrimental to the interests of the U.S.' " In this particular case, she continued, the State Department's opinion was that the visit was "for the purpose of advocacy."
Guerrero, 20, is president of the Federation of University Students (FEU) at the Advanced Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology of Havana. Sánchez, 31, is second editor in chief of the Avril editorial house, which publishes books, pamphlets, and periodicals geared towards Cuba's youth (including many pamphlets with speeches of Ernesto Che Guevara).
On April 3, Guerrero and Sánchez were called into the U.S. Interests Section in Havana and were told in person that their visa applications had been denied. U.S. officials returned the passports to the two Cuban youth. Earlier, on March 13, the U.S. Interests Section had returned the applications to the two Cubans without even registering their receipt. Two days later U.S. officials accepted the resubmitted applications, only to turn down the visa requests within two weeks.
The Faculty-Student Cuban Youth Lectures Committee sent a letter to professors, student groups, and others asking for urgent messages of protest to be faxed to the State Department demanding a reversal of the visa denial. Kaiser-Lenoir stated in the letter that this "is a very serious attack on academic freedom that has implications for broader civil liberties as well."
Already, many letters have arrived at the State Department, protesting the earlier stonewalling by the U.S. Interests Section. "This move on the part of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana is detrimental to the best interests of the international image of the U.S., as well as to the preservation of free speech and academic liberties in U.S. Institutions of Higher Education," said a protest message by Valentín Soto of the Department of Spanish and Italian at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
The Lectures Committee is asking that letters be addressed to Michael Ranneberger, Coordinator for Cuban Affairs; Richard Nuccio, Special Advisor for Cuban Affairs to the Secretary of State; and Sean Murphy of the Cuba Desk of the State Department. All three are located at the U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20520. Tel: (202) 647-9273; Fax: (202) 736-4476.
The Lectures Committee requests that it be informed of all activities in relation to this protest campaign and that it receive copies of all communications sent to the State Department.
The group can be reached at Caribbean Focus Program, Tom Reeves, Room 3-353, Roxbury Community College, 1234 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA 02120. Tel: (617) 427-0060 ext. 5151. The new fax number is (617) 776-5832.