A Cuban scientist who won an award for his work wasn't allowed into the United States to accept it.

BY FRANCES ROBLES

A Cuban scientist who invented a synthetic vaccine against meningitis could not pick up a prestigious award Wednesday night in California because the State Department denied him a visa, the museum giving him the prize said.

Vicente Vérez Bencomo was one of 25 scientists around the world honored by the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose for using technology to benefit mankind. Vérez was among 580 applicants for the award.

Vérez led an international team that developed Qim-Hib, a carbohydrate-based vaccine that fights haemophilus influenza Type B, the bacteria behind pneumonia and meningitis in children younger than 5. The bacteria kills 750,000 children a year.

''It's frustrating,'' museum spokesman Tony Santos said. ``We wish that hadn't been the government's position. The doctor is making the best of technology, and it's not to make people more money, but to help the world.''

Santos said behind-the-scenes pleas to embassies in Havana and appeals by members of Congress were in vain.

The decision was particularly puzzling, Santos said, because Vérez has traveled to the United States before, as recently as March. It was the first time in the five years the contest has existed that the museum was unsuccessful in getting a visa for a winner.

''He's been all over the world; he's a trustable man,'' said René Roy, a University of Quebec chemistry professor who co-invented the product with Vérez. ``There's no understandable reason.''

The U.S. State Department in Washington and U.S. officials in Havana declined to comment on the case, citing privacy rules. Vérez could not be reached for comment.