Cuba/US scientific cooperation declines under Trump
Cuba/US scientific cooperation declines under Trump
BY CLAUDIA TORRENS ASSOCIATED PRESS
MAY 28, 2019 09:01 PM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 37 MINUTES AGO
In this Dec. 12, 2018 photo provided by the Environmental Defense Fund, Patricia Gonzalez, director of the University of Havana's Center for Marine Research, third from right, sitting in front of a laptop, attends a field workshop with fellow Cuban scientists, and government officials, aboard a vessel at Parque Nacional Jardines de la Reina, Cuba. The New York-based Environmental Defense Fund has worked with Cuban universities, research centers and the Cuban government for 19 years on marine and coastal conservation. (Environmental Defense Fund via AP) AP
NEW YORK
The degradation of relations between the U.S. and Cuba under President Donald Trump has begun to cut into scientific and medical cooperation on issues ranging from treatment of infectious diseases to coral reef preservation.
A biomedical fellowship exchange program has been put on hold. Cuban cardiac nurses have stopped providing training to universities in Georgia and Maryland. A Cuban marine researcher has stopped accepting invitations to events in the U.S. because it's nearly impossible to get visas.
The economic crackdown on Cuba does not specifically target science or academic and professional travel for U.S. citizens to the island, which is still allowed without having to ask for permission to the Department of Treasury. Scientists, however, say uncertainty around cooperation has already prompted fewer trips to Cuba and some projects have already been affected.
Three Cuban biomedical fellows who were selected in 2018 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to study in the U.S. have been forced to remain in Cuba because of the difficulty to travel. The U.S Embassy in Havana took most of its staff out of Cuba after mysterious health incidents affected U.S. diplomats, forcing Cubans to travel to third countries to apply for a visa. Julia MacKenzie, senior director of International affairs for the AAAS, said that was too big an obstacle for the Cuban scientists.
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