Havana - The U.S. Government has reportedly denied visa to a group of Cuban students who scheduled to participate in the finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest at the Association of Computing Machinery.

During the event, known as the World Cup of Information Technology, the team from the University of Havana will only attend the contest, while those from the 'Hermanos Saiz Montes de Oca' University, of western Pinar del Rio province, will be absent as their visas were denied.

Dovier Antonio Ripoll, director of the contest in the Caribbean region, stressed that this denial shows that despite the opening of relationships between both nations, exchanges are still closed and restricted.

He stated that the visa denial was ratified by officials of the U.S. Department of State and its representation in Cuba, and emphasized that nothing can overshadow the talent, dedication, values and patriotism of the students from Pinar del Rio. Ripoll assured that winning a position in this kind of contest is very difficult, and the students from Pinar del Rio, like other teammates, were part of the 46,381 contestants who, grouped in more than 15 teams, representing more than 2,200 universities, from 100 countries.

According to Juventud Rebelde newspaper, the event will take place in South Dakota from May 20th to 25h, and will be attended by more than 100 universities in 44 countries.