The Second Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange will take place in Havana July 22–30. Dozens of young people from the United States will be going to Cuba to learn about the revolution there and exchange experiences with Cuban youth. The event is sponsored by several youth organizations on the island, including the Federation of University Students and the Union of Young Communists. Young people in a number of U.S. cities are making plans to go, and in some places organizing groups like the one in Minneapolis to build the event more broadly.

"Each Thursday evening, 10 to 15 young people and others meet here to organize outreach and fund-raising," Paulsen said. "We also discuss how to obtain licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department to facilitate legal travel to Cuba, given the U.S. restrictions on travel.

"We also are starting a study group before our meetings to prepare ourselves before our trip. We need to know what we should be looking for and what questions we need to be asking in order to take advantage of the opportunity to visit a country where capitalism no longer dominates and where a workers and farmers revolution has taken place. The classes aren’t mandatory and we aren’t grading each other. The first text we are discussing is a speech by Fidel Castro to the United Nations on Sept. 26, 1960, that explains in detail the conditions and the events that led to the revolution."

According to Sanja Petrovich, a co-chair of the group here, those working to take part in the Youth Exchange include five students from the University of Minnesota and two from Hamline University. In addition, she said, about eight young people from St. Cloud, Minnesota, are planning to attend. St. Cloud State University has been the center of recent protests against racist attacks on Jewish and Black faculty members encouraged by the school administration.

Publicity for the Youth Exchange was prominently displayed at the University of Minnesota when supporters posted promotional leaflets all around the campus. In addition, a number of announcements have been made in classes. About 70 students signed up several weeks ago for more information during the tour of eight college campuses in Minnesota by Cuban youth leaders Yanelis Martínez and Javier Dueñas.

The Youth Exchange Information Center has volunteered to be a national clearinghouse for information in the United States about the Youth Exchange. It has a new Internet web site with information about travel logistics, steps necessary to obtain Treasury Department licenses, the official invitation from the sponsoring organizations in Cuba, and sample leaflets.

The Internet address for the Youth Exchange Information Center is http://youthxchange01.8m.com.

The Information Center has a new office in the American Indian Learning Resource Center at the University of Minnesota here. The plans are for the Information Center to be staffed five days a week in the afternoons and for the center to be easily accessible by e-mail and phone. The e-mail address is youthxchange01@yahoo.com and the new telephone number is 763-443-8730.

The e-mail and statement of purpose of the Youth Exchange have been sent to affiliated organizations of the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of organizations that oppose Washington’s hostile policies toward Cuba. The website of the National Network on Cuba also lists the e-mail address of the Youth Exchange Information Center and its statement of purpose.

According to Paulsen, inquiries are received each day from young people in cities where organizing for the Youth Exchange is taking place.

A number of activities are being organized to help raise money for travel to Cuba for youth from the Twin Cities. Petrovich is offering assistance to students who are seeking to apply for grants from the University of Minnesota. An "Intermedia Arts Night" is being organized June 15 by a leader of the Resource Center of the Americas, a local group. A fund-raising social is also planned for June 9 that will be widely publicized.  
 
 
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