HAVANA -- (AP) -- High school students from Oregon hope to face their Cuban
 counterparts here in a formal debate of their countries' foreign policies.

 John Tredway, a debate coach from Ashland High School in Ashland, Ore., said
 Friday that he had signed a tentative agreement with officials of the Union of
 Young Communists for a possible debate in January.

 Details are yet to be worked out, but Tredway said he hopes to bring 20 or 30 of
 his state's brightest debate-team members to Cuba for such a contest.

 Tredway said he obtained a license from the U.S. Treasury Department for his
 visit to Cuba and would seek similar approval for a visit with the debate team.

 The decades-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents most Americans from
 spending money on the island without permission from the Treasury Department.

 ``We see this as something different from baseball diplomacy or the musical
 groups coming here,'' Tredway said. ``This will get at the issues, the ideas that
 have been separating our two countries for 40 years.''

 The debate team is the latest in a growing number of youth and other groups from
 the United States seeking permission to visit Cuba since President Clinton in
 January announced measures designed to increase people-to-people contact
 between the two nations.