Opposition claims that a Bermudian student who went to Cuba to study music went under the auspices of Government's cultural accord with the Caribbean country have been proven to be untrue.

And the student and his mother, Aaron and Rosemarie Daniels, yesterday set the record straight about their premature departure from Cuba contradicting further claims by the United Bermuda Party that they left the country because of hardship conditions there.

Shadow Community Affairs Minister Louise Jackson on Friday claimed in a question submitted to her Government counterpart Dale Butler that the student, which was later revealed to be 14 year old Aaron Daniels, went to Cuba under the auspices of the cultural accord, but admitted this week that the student was already in Cuba while the agreement was being signed.

“We didn't realise at the time, the memo was being signed while the student was in Cuba,” she said.

But she added that the Community Affairs Ministry was the “main sponsor” - a claim Mr. Butler categorically denied on Monday.

“We found Aaron Daniels in Cuba prior to the signing of the memo. We did not pay a single penny neither did we offer any assistance,” Mr. Butler said on Monday.

He added that if Government did send students to Cuba the school will be “thoroughly investigated with regard to housing, language and curriculum” before making any recommendations to anyone. “I would say we've had 100 calls from Bermudians who are interested in going there for school but we have not been able to provide assistance because we have not visited that school.

“Two offers were made to educate six to ten Bermudians for a five-year period - tuition, room and board and a stipend but we didn't take advantage of those because it is not part of the memorandum and we do not intend to make it a part.”

Some public funds were, however, spent on Mr. Daniels' Cuba adventure - the Bermuda Arts Council, which routinely supports Aaron's musical studies, provided a “stipend” toward his airfare, according to Ms Daniels.

On Friday Mrs. Jackson asked Mr. Butler to explain why “the Bermudian student who recently travelled to Cuba to study music on the Cultural Exchange Programme decided to return to Bermuda prematurely” and what Government intended to do as a result.

In his written response Mr. Butler said no student had gone to Cuba under the exchange programme.

Fourteen year old Aaron Daniels was granted a $2,500 scholarship by the Ross ‘Blackie' Talbot Foundation, in addition to funds provided by other private sponsors, to study at Havana's National School of Music for a year.

Aaron, an exceptionally talented musician, had visited the school in April last year before making a decision, with his mother, to go there for a year. “According to his mother, it's a programme that is very difficult for a child because they've only got electricity down there for about three hours a day,” Mrs. Jackson said on Sunday when asked to elaborate on her parliamentary question to Mr. Butler.

“There's no heat, they grow their own food... It's very spartan conditions. It's very poor - I don't think people get how poor it is.”

She added: “They would not give him tuition he needed for his audition for the University of the Arts. I am concerned about any other children who might be sent to Cuba.

“I think people should know just what the conditions are, what the tuition is and just how it will affect their studies in North America. I'm concerned about Bermudian children who are used to being comfortable.

“I don't think our children should be raised living like hot house flowers but I think we need to be concerned about their health and safety. And this can be traumatic for children.”

When contacted, however, Rosemarie Daniels said she spoke to Mrs. Jackson for the first time on Sunday.

And she flatly contradicted her version of the reasons behind their premature departure from Cuba. “She did call me on Sunday afternoon and ask me some questions - that's the first time she spoke to me,” Ms Daniels said.

“I spoke to her and I tried to set the record straight with her. It definitely isn't true that he just hated the place. It's quite the contrary - he loved the place, he loved the people, the school. He would have loved to stay longer but unfortunately because of the time, we had to leave.”

She said they had applied for Aaron to study music at the highly selective University of the Arts in North Carolina starting in September this year, went to Cuba in the meantime, and were pleasantly surprised when the school contacted them saying he had been accepted for an audition.They rushed back to Bermuda to properly prepare for the audition.

Another factor was that Aaron was set to do an extra year in Cuba to finish his academic studies at the school because he had not mastered the Spanish language before going there. “If I have to do it over again I may have made some changes. Instead of going to the music school I would have sent him to the language school first,” said Ms Daniels, who is raising Aaron by herself.

“That's the mistake we made,” Aaron agreed. “I didn't do the language school which I could have done in the summer.”

“Under these circumstances he was learning the language and the music at the same time. We were in the process of applying to the music school in North Carolina. At the same time we were slated to visit Cuba. He expressed an interest in going there for a short time while we were waiting for the response from North Carolina.”

The school was “quite positive” about his willingness to go to Cuba and it probably helped him get accepted in the end, his mother said.

In the end the pair were there from September through December last year.

They both reported that they had left Cuba with positive impressions and are looking forward to a return visit.

“It's a very nice country, actually. People say its a communist country and there's bad things going on there but you don't notice that and they don't really say anything about it. The last time they had capital punishment in Cuba was the ferry hijacking last April,” said Aaron.

He added that crime was low - he noticed just one or two incidents a week.

“The roads aren't as good - they are not fully paved but it's easy to get around. And the beaches are nice, the people nice and friendly.”

And he was impressed by the Cuban Government's social assistance arrangements. “They actually like the Government and it's turned around a lot. People think Cuba's very poor and people can't get food but there's a law in Cuba where everybody has to have food and housing.

“They have a programme where people give food out and they have very big shelters with beds for people that are homeless but you don't see much of that because people have homes and you don't have to pay rent. That means that everybody has housing and you don't have to pay rent and you don't have to worry about bills like we do here, so it's actually very easy to live there.”

He said he witnessed one power failure which lasted half an hour.

Asked about the school facilities, he said it was not quite as comfortable as at home, but as comfortable as the homes of some of his Bermudian friends.

“They had heat, nice rooms. My school room had bunk beds - three for six people and next to the window there's a place for drying out your clothes and they give you a locker. There's electricity in the room and heating throughout the whole school - and bathroom facilities - they had cold water and hot water.”

But the Daniels' were most impressed by the sense of security they felt while in Havana.

“It was very comfortable actually. You could walk through the streets at anytime and no one would bother you. My mom used to live in the States and she would not go out at night but when we were in Cuba she would just take walks around because there was a lot of security all over Cuba,” he said.

“The laws are very strict and they control the country really well.”

Fellow students were from South America, the United States, Canada and Europe.

Asked what advice he would give to anyone planning on studying there, he said: “I'd learn the language and go from there.”

Ms Daniels said she had no complaints about the school even if it did lack some of the amenities found in western schools.

“The main thing was to make sure that, one, he was safe - which he was. Two that he got a good musical background. And it was all about him learning about culture. I also think he learned some important things about the have nots. And I think it helped him to mature.”

But she did caution that she did not think most Bermudian children would adapt as well as her son to the limitations.

“One thing that I like about Aaron is that he adapts to any situation. I must say I don't think most children would have adapted” to the different conditions and being without the luxuries they take for granted.

“With Aaron he gets some nice things but he had to do without. I think it was a wake up call for him to see what it's like to be without and do without - and I like that. Particularly for a young man.”

She added that her son's personal growth and safety and the opportunities to have varied experiences were most important.

“My personal feelings are I know a lot of people don't care too much for Cuba or their politics but I try to teach my son to be open minded. I want him to be able to experience life for what it is and I don't want him to feel like everything has to be handed to him on a silver platter.

“There are so many more things you can gain from the experience. I think you gain more than you lose. And I don't want him to feel he can't go somewhere because of politics. He's not a politician. He's a kid.”

The Royal Gazette has yet to confirm another of the UBP's claims - that a Cuban musician visiting the Island last month defected to Canada on the way back home.