Cuba again rejects US official's bioweapons charge

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N31295009.htm

HAVANA, March 31 (Reuters) - Cuba on Wednesday rejected a renewed accusation by a senior U.S. official that it is developing biological weapons and said the charges were an attempt to seek a pretext to invade the communist-run island.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque called a news conference to deny the latest charge by John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security in the Bush administration, who made a similar accusation in 2002. snip

Bolton first accused Cuba of biological weapons research in 2002, on the eve of a visit to the island by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Carter disputed the accusations in a statement he read out during a visit to Havana's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, where he said there had been no mention of the matter during briefings in Washington prior to his trip.

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[Old and In the Way]

1. Hey Dimson, I've got an idea. Why not "Bay of Pigs, Reduex"?

Get Poppy to help you with the logistics.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You might find this article from the Guardian helpful!

Located and shared by a great Canadian DU poster:

Cuban cocktails

The most advanced biotech industry in the developing world exports vaccines around the globe - despite US claims about biological weapons

Ian Sample
Tuesday March 30, 2004
The Guardian

Outright success stories have been hard to come by for Cuba since the collapse of its Soviet ally, but its biotechnology industry is increasingly looking like a triumph. Driven largely by domestic need, home-grown biotech has boosted what was already an advanced healthcare system to the point where Cuba's citizens now enjoy one of the highest life expectancies and most extensive childhood vaccination schemes in the world, and modern anti-retroviral drugs are available for all HIV/Aids patients.

But where Cuba sees success, the US sees danger. According to some elements in the Bush administration, Cuba's biotechnology efforts conceal nefarious goings-on. John Bolton, the under-secretary of state for arms control, says Cuba has at the least a limited offensive biological weapons programme. Other US officials have echoed the warning. Excelling at what could be the most lucrative new technology for decades has apparently landed Cuba in the crosshairs of a trigger-happy administration.

Few outside the US administration give credence to the idea that Cuban scientists are cooking up lethal broths of pathogens. In 2002, Glenn Baker, of the US Centre for Defence Information (CDI), took a team of scientists and former weapons inspectors to Cuba to investigate. They toured nine biotech centres, chosen with help from active intelligence officers, and found nothing to suggest an active weapons programme.

Last November, another CDI team concluded the Cubans were up to nothing more than producing a vast array of vaccines, mostly for domestic use, but also for export. Suggestions that Cuba must be a concern because it could churn out biological weapons should it choose to are misleading; any country with a modern biotechnology industry and a university with a half-decent biology faculty could make them.
(snip/...)

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/sciences/story/0,12243,1180996,00.html

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I think we all know _Bush doesn't even think he needs a valid reason if he wants to do a Bay of Pigs El Grande, to avenge his own dear sweet papa, who was involved in the original Bay of Pigs, who even donated two of his own boats to be used, the "Barbara" and "Zapata," from what I've read.

Pathetic.

Carter, the first U.S. head of state in or out of office to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, also met at his hotel with two leading Cuban dissidents for a briefing on human rights. The opposition leaders called on Carter to promote dialogue between the two countries.

During a Monday morning tour of the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Carter told Castro and this country's top scientists that he had asked White House, State Department and intelligence officials specifically if Cuba was transferring technology or other information that could be used in terrorist activities.

"The purpose of this briefing was for them to share with us any concern that my government had about possible terrorist activities that were supported by Cuba," said Carter. "There were absolutely no allegations made or questions raised. I asked them specifically on more than one occasion if there was any evidence that Cuba has been involved in sharing any information to any other country on Earth that could be used for terrorist purposes. The answer from our experts on intelligence was 'no'," Carter told the gathering at Cuba's top biotechnology lab.
(snip/...)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/14/world/main508969.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

3. A great Cuban folkloric photo!

I think they are touring in France in this photo.


Want to see a photo from the time of US-supported dictator, Fulgencio Batista? Our Navy used to use Havana for shore leave:



A FANTASTIC Cuba photo!