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2004 - 61 CUBAN SCHOLARS Sixty-one Cuban scholars were scheduled to attend the Latin American Studies Association's (LASA) international congress in October 2004. Less than two weeks before the congress convened, their visas were denied. According to the State Department, the decision was in keeping with the Bush administration goal to hasten democratic and free market reform in Cuba. Several members of LASA publicly questioned whether barring foreign scholars would help promote democracy. Whatever the effect on Cuba, the president of LASA, Marysa Navarro pointed out that the exclusions "attack[ed] one of the fundamental principles of academic life in the United States, which is freedom of inquiry." |