Paul L. Houston
									Tel. (607) 255-4303
									FAX  (607) 255-8549
									EMAIL plh2@cornell.edu

	March 13, 1997

The Editor, The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, N.Y. 10036-3959
FAX: (212) 556 3622

To the Editor:

In early March five Cuban scientists - all quantum chemists from the 
University of Havana - were to attend a US-Latin America Workshop in 
Quantum Chemistry at the University of Florida and the Sanibel Island 
Symposium on Quantum Chemistry in Florida.  Mini- symposia/workshops 
around their work were planned at Clark Atlanta University (hosted by CH) 
and in the Chemistry Department at Cornell University (hosts RH, PH and AA).  
Just before their  scheduled departure, all five scientists learned from 
the State Department representative in Havana that their visa requests 
had been denied.

Professor Luis Montero, Head of the Theory Group in the Faculty of 
Chemistry and leader of this Cuban delegation, is an internationally 
recognized theoretical/computational chemist  He has visited many 
countries including the US.  

Our country has always been foremost in arguing that there must be 
free interchange of ideas.  Forbidding Cuban scientists to visit our 
country is contrary to recent US State Department practice, at odds 
with the exemptions in the "Trading With the Enemy Act" that permit cultural 
exchange with Cuba, and insulting to our scientific colleagues.  We urge 
the immediate uncoupling of science with politics in the Cuban context 
and a return to free, politically unencumbered, scientific exchange.   




Andreas Albrecht		Roald Hoffmann			Paul Houston
Professor		        Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor	Professor
Department of Chemistry	        of Chemistry			Department of Chemistry
Cornell University		Department of Chemistry		Cornell University
				Cornell University





Carlos Handy
Associate Professor
Department of Physics
Clark Atlanta University