South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 11, 2004
U.S. medical students escape embargo
Vanessa Bauza
HAVANA · Opponents of the Bush administration's new regulations
curtailing U.S. educational programs in Cuba scored a small victory
last week when the State Department announced it would allow a group of
American medical students studying in Havana under Cuban government
scholarships to return to classes in the fall.
The exemption followed a flurry of letters to Secretary of State Colin
Powell by the students' parents and other supporters of the 3-year-old
program, which is aimed at American minorities who otherwise would not
be able to afford medical school.
"Because this is a long-term, degree-granting scholarship program,
we're working with the Treasury Department to amend the regulations to
permit this program to continue," a State Department official in
Washington said on the condition of anonymity.
"This was a group that kind of got caught up in the rule changes, and
we took another look at the program there," the official added. "We
decided this is a program that needs to continue."
The decision gave hope to U.S.-based academic exchange program
coordinators that they, too, might be allowed to continue sending
students to the University of Havana and other institutions. But the
State Department official said there were currently no plans to exempt
other programs from the tough new regulations.
Last month the Bush administration announced it would eliminate an
embargo loophole that had allowed 80 American medical students to study
at the Latin American School of Medicine in western Havana. The
students were "fully hosted" by the Cuban government and therefore not
spending any of their own money on the island. However, Americans can
no longer be "fully hosted" by Cuba or any other third party.
Under separate new regulations designed to limit the flow of dollars to
Cuba, American students seeking to participate in an academic exchange
program in Havana now must be enrolled at a college or university that
has a Treasury Department license for travel to the island. They can no
longer travel under the license of another institution sponsoring the
program.
In addition, exchange programs must be at least 10 weeks long.
That will eliminate about 80 percent of the existing programs, said
Jerry Guidera of the Massachusetts-based Center for Cross Cultural
Studies, which has operated academic programs in Cuba with students
from more than 40 U.S. colleges and universities since 1996.
Guidera said a coalition representing about 80 academic exchange
programs met with State Department officials and is writing to the
Treasury Department in an effort to reverse the new restrictions.
The decision to exempt the program at Havana's Latin American School of
Medicine from the stricter regulations "shows that if there is enough
political pressure, the State Department can bend a little," Guidera
said. "The government shouldn't be involved in defining what an
academic study abroad program is."
Students at the Latin American School of Medicine breathed a sign of
relief last week after hearing the announcement.
Sitembile Sales, 24, who enrolled in the six-year Havana program in
2002 and has so far taken pre-med classes and intensive Spanish, was
happy she would be able to return to her course work in the fall.
Three years ago, after hearing that the Cuban government was offering
scholarships for American students through a New York-based
anti-embargo organization, Pastors for Peace, Sales said she jumped at
the opportunity to study medicine at the seaside school where students
from 23 other countries are earning medical degrees.
"I always wanted to practice in a disadvantaged area and give back to
my community," said Sales, of Peekskill, N.Y., who took a year off from
the program last year. "Definitely knowing I would be debt-free and
come out as a doctor was important."
The students are not required to have college degrees, and upon their
return to the United States they must follow the same rules for all
foreign trained medical students to obtain American medical licenses.
They must also agree to practice medicine in an under-served community
in the United States.
While proponents of the program say its academic training is as good as
that of a U.S. medical school, student life at the Latin American
School of Medicine is unlike what most American students are used to.
Shared dorm rooms are inspected for cleanliness, school uniforms must
be pressed and tidy, cafeteria meals are often basic rice, beans and
pork, and water in the bathrooms is shut off in the evenings.
"It's very disciplined and the work is rigorous," Sales said. "One
thing we try to keep in mind is that everything is paid for. We get
toiletries, linens, books, school supplies. Everything is taken care
of."
The Latin American School of Medicine declined a request for the
American students currently on campus in Havana to be interviewed.
Students contacted individually in Havana also declined to be
interviewed, referring inquiries to the school.
The Rev. Lucius Walker of Pastors for Peace, who last week organized a
caravan with 100 tons of humanitarian aid for Cuba, said he was glad
the medical students would be "exempt from the political strife between
Bush and Cuba."
"We don't think they should be used in this Bush campaign to win
Florida voters," he said.
Vanessa Bauza can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com.
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