U.S. And Cuban Collaborators Undeterred By Economic Embargo, Ideological Standoff

By Economic Embargo, Ideological Standoff Despite heightened political tension between the United States and Cuba, the number of collaborative projects conducted by scientists from the two neighboring countries has been quietly growing. Undeterred by events such as last month's passage of legislation strengthening U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba and February's shootdown by the Cuban government of two aircraft belonging to a Miami-based exile group, researchers are proceeding with collegial scientific exchanges. UNDAUNTED: Michael Smith, from the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington, has been traveling to Cuba since he late 1980s. "If you've read U.S. newspapers over the last several weeks, you would definitely have the impression that everything has been tightened up," says Michael Smith, director of the U.S.-Cuban scientific exchange program at the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington, D.C. He refers to the Helms-Burton Act, signed by President Bill Clinton last month, which codifies current executive orders that impose an economic embargo against Cuba. "But that's not the case." For the last several years, U.S. biological scientists have been collaborating with their counterparts at such institutions as the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Oceanology in Havana in little-publicized efforts. Among the American institutions whose researchers have been participating in such projects are the Center for Marine Conservation, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)-all Washington, D.C.-based organizations-and the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, as well as a handful of universities. Trekking through lush tropical forests and sampling in warm Caribbean waters, Cuban and American scientists interested in biodiversity and systematics are making inroads in documenting the island's rich store of plants and animals. They persist despite the bureaucratic red tape resulting from the U.S. embargo, which has been in effect for more than 30 years. The embargo prohibits U.S. companies or individuals from engaging in activities that could financially benefit the Cuban government, such as tourism. Smith, also director of the marine center's Caribbean biodiversity program, says that there has always been more latitude from the U.S. government with regard to scientific exchanges than was generally believed. For example, U.S. regulations issued last October expanded access to Cuba for American scientists. However, Smith notes: "I've been realizing since I've been talking with people at AAAS and here that in some fields [other than environmental science], there has not been an equal level of success." Indeed, biotech is one area of science that's excluded from October's loosening of restrictions. The U.S. government will encourage any area of scientific cooperation except biotechnology, which "remains a sensitive issue," stated Kevin Sullivan, an economic officer in the State Department's Office of Cuban Affairs, in a press release issued by AAAS in February at its annual meeting. U.S. scientists familiar with their country's Cuban policies say that this is because of the field's potential economic benefit to the Cuban government. Any direct or indirect support of President Fidel Castro's socialist regime would violate the 1962 economic embargo against the Cuban government, they point out. Although U.S. researchers who have traveled to Cuba for field work, conferences, and information-gathering visits are impressed with their Cuban colleagues' hospitality, expertise, and ingenuity, scientists from both countries remain frustrated by the embargo (see Opinion, page 10). In general, Cubans feel professionally isolated, while Americans are hampered by bureaucracy and logistical challenges. "For many years, in spite of the difficulties brought about by political differences, scientists both in the U.S. and Cuba have had the interest to cooperate and to establish links of scientific exchange for the benefit of all of science," Sergio Pastrana, deputy director for international cooperation in the Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment in Cuba, tells The Scientist in a phone interview from Havana. "We're interested in trying to improve the flow of science information to Cuba because-due to the economic problems they've had in the last five years as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union-they have been in a severe recession," says Jeff Stann, director of AAAS's Western Hemisphere project. Many Cuban scientists do not have access to basic journals, computers, and other materials and databases they need to remain professionally active. COLLEAGUES: Jaun Pablo Garcia Arteaga of Cuba's Institute of Oceanology and Susan Jewett from the Smithsonian "There are a lot of limitations in terms of basics, such as vehicles and gasoline," reports Francisco Dallmeier, director of the Smithsonian's Man and the Biosphere biodiversity program. For the last two years, ecologist Dallmeier and American and Cuban colleagues have been monitoring Cuban vegetation plots to compare with other sites in the Caribbean. While collaborative research projects undertaken thus far have been fruitful, much work remains to be done, according to scientists involved in these efforts. "Cuba's not only the biggest island in the Caribbean, it's the biggest [information] gap," remarks Don Wilson, director of biodiversity programs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The experience of scientists conducting research in Cuba is somewhat of a "mixed bag," according to Smith. "It's favorable for people who are established. It's not so favorable for people trying to start now." Prior to the August 1994 Cuban immigration crisis-when Castro allowed thousands of Cubans to emigrate to the U.S.-scientists were allowed to travel to Cuba on a general license, if they met four criteria. Applicants were required to hold a full-time professional position; conduct research in their field of expertise; perform studies that can be done only in Cuba; and disseminate their findings. "There was virtually no paperwork, except for a Cuban visa," recalls Bill Buck, a curator at the New York Botanical Garden in charge of an ongoing project to catalog the flora of the Greater Antilles-the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Hispanola. Now, in addition to meeting the four criteria, individual scientists are required to obtain a special license from the Treasury Department for each trip in order to spend money in Cuba. Smith calls these measures "disastrous" from the point of view of people wanting to do pure science. In October 1995 there was some easing of the regulations governing scientific exchanges, but not of the requirement for the specific license, a point that was "a disappointment" to Smith. "The October regulations do allow scientists to attend international meetings taking place in Cuba, and to make trips to explore opportunities for work," says Stann. "It [the change in regulations] also allows U.S. organizations to make gifts of money and equipment-like computers-to nongovernment [Cuban] organizations." Still, given its loosened policy, the U.S. government hasn't abolished the need for individual Treasury licenses. "We're still concerned with enforcing the embargo," remarks a State Department official familiar with Cuban affairs, speaking on condition of anonymity. "While the vast majority of scientists who apply are serious and generally get their licenses, there is concern that a general license might be abused by a few people to go down for business or pleasure." According to Stann, the February shootdown (and the resultant signing of the Helms-Burton Act) did not alter the relaxed policies of last October. "Officially, [the February shootdown] doesn't really preclude very much," says Wilson. "Practically, it's thrown a monkey wrench into [collaborations], just because people are concerned about what might happen." Still, Wilson says, the events of the last several weeks have changed the attitude of some investigators toward collaborations. "There's a little reluctance on the part of some scientists to actually go down there right now. I think it's a short-term glitch if nothing happens." Stann expresses optimism about the future of joint endeavors: "I have been in contact with people in the U.S. and Cuban government, and both sides are giving the same message-they want to continue the scientific exchange." By far the most developed Cuban-American scientific relationships in the life sciences are in the area of systematics and biodiversity. Specimens documenting Cuba's rich flora and fauna flowed into U.S. institutions such as the Smithsonian and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia for at least a century before the embargo. IMMERSED: Michael Smith seining on Cuba's north coast Since then, notes Smith, Cuban scientists have essentially been blocked from accessing information on their country's biodiversity, which is critical because of the island's high number of endemic species and high rate of extinction. Therein lies "the great irony," remarks Smith. "In order to do research on Cuban biodiversity and to have the necessary information for conservation and management programs, Cuban scientists have to access their country's specimen base, which is in the country that has had a blockade against them for the past 34 years." Along with ongoing projects at the Center for Marine Conservation, a few U.S.-based programs are rectifying the situation. Funded by the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Systematics Collections (ASC) is sponsoring scientific information exchanges. One such project, which started earlier this year at Philadelphia's academy, focuses on compiling taxonomic information on Cuban land snails, which ASC will make available to Cuban scientists. "What we have here dates from the 1860s and '70s to pre-1960s," says Gary Rosenberg, an assistant curator in the academy's department of malacology. "It gives Cuban scientists an historical framework for conservation," adds ASC's executive director, Elaine Hoagland. Cuban researchers' needs go beyond collections of specimens. "We're trying to reinstitute some of the library exchanges that used to exist between libraries of natural history in the United States and Cuba," Hoagland points out. Speaking by phone from her office in Havana, Diana Ibarz!bal, director of the center for marine natural collections at the Institute of Oceanology, tells The Scientist that although her institution is equipped with a good library, "we miss the exchange between our papers and other articles from other institutions." COLLABORATORS: Ichthyologists Lynne Parenti of the U.S., left and Georgina Bustamante of Cuba Cuban scientists aren't the only ones who are trying to piece together an incomplete scientific picture. "In many respects we're trying to fill in gaps in knowledge of Caribbean [biodiversity] and systematics in general," explains Lynne Parenti, curator of fishes at the National Museum of Natural History. "The collection we made in April 1994 was probably the first major one of Cuban shore fishes to come into [the U.S.] since about 1959." "There's a very easy case that can be made as to why it's important for U.S. [environmental] scientists to be working with Cubans," says Stann. "The ecosystems of the two countries overlap. For example, Cuban waters may be the spawning grounds for some of our fisheries." While environmental scientists find it relatively easy to work in Cuba, investigators involved in research related to biotechnology find their efforts hampered by official policies. "Any activity that's perceived as contributing to the Cuban economy is . . . not allowed by the U.S. government," explains Stann. "The field of biotech is seen as having a lot of spinoffs into economic activities that could benefit the Cuban economy-for example, the production of vaccines, which Cubans have been active in." Cuban Connections Cuba Working Group Home Page http://www.msc.cornell.edu/~plh2/cuba Supported by the Washington, D.C.-based Federation of American Scientists and Cornell University, this page contains information on conferences and publications, as well as names of Cuban and American researchers interested in scholarly exchanges. For more information, contact Mary Jo Dudley, Latin American Studies Program, 190 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853; (607) 255-3345. Fax: (607) 255-8919. E-mail:mjd9@cornell.edu The National Web Site for the Republic of Cuba http://www.cubaweb.cu/ This page contains some information on Cuban medicine as well as science and technology centers in the country. "While we are interested both in sending humanitarian aid and in expanding contact with professional Cubans, at the same time we have to be concerned with the other aspect of our policy, which is to reduce the Cuban government's ability to earn hard currency," relates the State Department official. "One of the bases of this policy is that the Cuban government uses what revenues it can garner to [fuel] its repressive apparatus." The official does agree that biotech scientists face more difficulties than do environmental researchers in participating in exchanges, and will continue to see such obstacles. "In evaluating the [Treasury Department] license applications, we'll simply have to check to make sure that research or travel wouldn't support Cuban state enterprises in exporting biotech products," he says. "If the [connection] is discernible, then it's potentially a problem." The limitations do not end with bureaucratic roadblocks. Currently, Cuba has Internet access via Canada but does not have access to such other services as online databases or newsgroups. "Their computers are so old, and without a direct Internet connection they cannot participate in" the type of activities their American counterparts in molecular biology do, such as accessing online gene banks, notes Robert Brambl, a professor of plant biology at the University of Minnesota. "I do think that things will change within the next year or so as they get a direct line to the Internet, but it means that they're going to have to get vastly improved computers to do this," Brambl comments. The Cuban government has a World Wide Web home page on the Internet, but it is provided by a Canadian company (see accompanying list of resources). Future collaborations depend on maintaining an atmosphere of open communication, note researchers and Cuban government officials. When asked what improvements Cuban scientists would most like to see, Pastrana remarks: "All scientists require a healthy way of cooperating and exchanging ideas with their counterparts, no matter [their] political differences or differences of any kind."

U.S. And Cuban Collaborators Undeterred By Economic Embargo, Ideological Standoff

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