HAVANA, 20 - (AP) - Oregon and Cuban high school students formally debated international relations, agreeing that baseball contacts should continue between the two countries and that the U.S. trade embargo should be lifted.
Authorities barred most of the foreign press from covering Wednesday's exchange, but a reporter from The (Portland) Oregonian was allowed into the hall for part of the debate sponsored by the Union of Young Communists at the Lenin Technical School on the outskirts of Havana.
Despite protests in both the United States and Cuba over Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old boy's case was not a topic of Wednesday's debate, at least not for the brief time that the Oregonian reporter was allowed to watch. The debate was scheduled before Elian was rescued off the coast of Florida
in late November, sparking a fight over whether he should stay with his Miami relatives or be returned to his father in Cuba.
However, Cuban students unaccustomed to hearing local criticism of their system during formal events gasped when Misha Isaak of Lincoln High School said Cuba would have to improve its human rights record as part of a reconciliation with the United States.
The American students also found the Cubans better informed debaters than some had expected.
``They are not these programmed robots,'' said Skye Mathison, 18, of Ashland High School. ``They are very good at defending their country and picking apart your logic.''
The 27 American students and nine chaperones arrived in Havana on Monday for the visit. Members of the American team, led by Ashland High School debate coach John Tredway, are from a number of schools, including Ashland High School and Portland's Lincoln High School.
Twenty-six Cuban students also took part in the debates and 40 Cuban students watched.
The students unanimously agreed after a debate that baseball contacts between the two countries should be continued. They also voted 45-3 that the U.S. trade embargo of Cuba should be lifted.
And after a wrangle over wording, the two sides both endorsed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Cubans grow up in a society where the U.S. embargo is an ever-present topic of discussion. And some Cubans said that left the visiting students at a disadvantage.
Juan Enrique Aparicio, cultural affairs director of the Cuban school, said the U.S. students sometimes seemed lost when the Cubans discussed specific parts of the embargo. ``The embargo affects us so much,'' he said.
The debates were held in a congress format, with the two teams arguing resolutions and then voting on them.
The trip was possible because of President Clinton's announcement a year ago of policy changes to increase contacts between American and Cuban citizens.
Because of the policy shift, the Baltimore Orioles and Cuba's national team were able to play baseball games both here and in Baltimore last year.
The Clinton administration has also allowed an increase in direct flights from the United States to Cuba for a limited group of Americans allowed to visit the communist country, such as journalists, academics and others granted special licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department.
Under the U.S. economic embargo imposed in the early 1960s, most Americans are effectively barred from visiting Cuba because they are prohibited from spending money there.
AP-NY-01-20-00 0124EST
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