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The US government denied a Puerto Rican delegation permission to travel to Cuba to attend the First Regional, Caribbean and Latin American Congress on Hypnotherapy.

Cuban Alberto Cobian, founding president of the Caribbean Association on Therapeutic Hypnosis, said that “Puerto Rican delegates have been victims of an imperial edict.”

Cobian lamented, particularly, the absence of Dr. Saavedra Caballero as president of the referred institution in the Caribbean.

Academics, scientists, artists, sportspeople and public figures from several spheres are every year impeded of traveling to Cuba because Washington denies them permission, as part of its policy to isolate and blockade the island.

In the hypnotherapy congress opening session, taking place in Santiago de Cuba, 534 miles east of Havana, Dr. Teresa Robles, general director of the Mexican Ericksorian Center, spoke of the efficiency of the hypnotic treatment in alcoholism and drug addiction.

The Center of Researches and Projects at the Mining-Metallurgic Industry (CIPIMM) is currently developing new technologies to expand the Cuban nickel industry.

Dr. Jose Castellanos Suarez told Prensa Latina that the country is implementing three important technologies to improve nickel production.

There are plans to build a plant as a joint company with Sherritt International, Castellanos said in the framework of the Second Earth Sciences Convention “Geociencias 2007.”

Castellanos also stated the island is working on other technology to eliminate sulfhydric acid (H2S), which affects the environment.

“This will boost sustainable development and be positive from the economic point of view,” he noted.

The expert also said the country is developing a technology called CIPIMM 2 to directly prepare limonitic mineral pulp, to increase nickel and cobalt production.

Cuban Informatics and Communication Minister Ramiro Valdes Menendez arrived in this capital Thursday on an official invitation by Chinese authorities.

Valdes Menendez´s agenda includes meeting with Information Industry Minister Wang Xudong, State Administration Minister of Radio, Film and Television Wang Taihua and other top officials.

Also on the list is to visit centers of economic and technological interest in several Chinese provinces and cities.

Over half a million citizens of 16 countries currently use the Cuban method “Yes, I can” to learn to read and write.

Up to now, a total of two million 160 thousand persons in nations of three continents have benefited from the method created by Cuban professor Leonela Ines Relys Diaz, reported the Agencia de Informacion Nacional (AIN) quoting Cuban education officials.

The Cuban literacy program is now being applied in Venezuela, Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Mozambique, El Salvador, Colombia and Guinea Bissau.

In Grenada, Ecuatorial Guinea, South Africa, French Guiana, Timor Leste and Haiti authorities are working to apply the method to reduce illiteracy in just 65 days with the help of TV and video equipment.

The method originally written in Spanish, has been translated into Portuguese, English, Creole, Quechua, Aymara and other languages.

Venezuela, the first to massively apply the Cuban method, was declared free of illiteracy on October 28, 2005, second in Latin America after Cuba which achieved such a feat in 1961, when over 1.5 million of its citizens learned to read and write.

According to the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), about 861 million persons, that is 20 percent of all the planet´s adults, are illiterate. Of that figure, two thirds are women.

Also, 113 million children do not attend school and lack access to basic education.

For that reason, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that establishes a Decade of Adult Literacy from 2003 to 2012, in order to boost world efforts to reduce the high and persistent indicators of illiteracy, to which Cuba contributes modestly with its experience.

President of Venezuelan oil firm PDVSA Intevep, Hercillo Jose Rivas Siervo, expressed his satisfaction on Wednesday over results of joint research with Cuba in the field of hydrocarbons.

Rivas Siervo and a group of PDVSA Intervep experts are attending the 1st Cuban Congress on Oil and Gas, currently in session at the Havana Convention Center.

In remarks to Prensa Latina, Rivas said they have a collaboration agreement with oil firm Cuba Petroleo (CUPET) and Cuba’s Oil Research Center for joint studies in the field.

We are happy with the results of this cooperation, which will benefit both countries, he stressed.

He added that both parties collaborate in technological development in the areas of exploration, production, refining and environmental protection.

This year, we did specific research to improve recovery of heavy crude and applied biotechnology in improving oil quality, he said.

Rivas Siervo said the works to be presented by Venezuelan specialists attending the congress prepared are linked to research and technological development.

He described as excellent Cuba’s efforts to increase oil production.

Intevep is a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela aimed at comprehensive technological solutions, with special emphasis on exploration, refining and industrialization activities.