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Oregon debaters off to Cuba The Associated Press ASHLAND -- A group of Oregon high school students embarked Monday on a historic trip to Havana, where they will be the first U.S. high school debate team to formally argue about international relations with Cuban students. After gathering in the Ashland High School cafeteria for predawn interviews with CBS, the 27 students and nine chaperones making up the U.S.-Cuba Youth Debate Team boarded planes for a flight to Miami, then Havana. "I'm looking forward to a real one-on-one dialogue with students from a different culture," said Misha Isaak of Lincoln High School in Portland. "I hope all the students will teach and learn from each other. And second, start down the road of reform for Cuba." It's also the hope of the Clinton administration, which made the trip possible a year ago by allowing more contact with Cuba, which has been under an economic embargo since the early 1960s. The State Department has said it hopes that contacts between young Americans and young Cubans will help Cubans develop an organized political opposition that will allow a peaceful transition to a more democratic government when Fidel Castro passes from power. The trip fulfills a dream of Ashland High School debate coach John Tredway, who still vividly recalls President John F. Kennedy announcing a naval blockade after the Soviet Union began installing missiles in Cuba. "We're going down there to promote peace," Tredway said. He added that it was fitting the trip would begin on the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. "It's in the spirit of Dr. King," Tredway said. "He was killed in 1968, and at that time, he was calling for better relations with Cuba." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA