Doubt cast on Cuban bioterror U.S. commander of Latin forces questions weapons accusation

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Posted on Fri, May. 24, 2002

Doubt cast on Cuban bioterror

U.S. commander of Latin forces questions weapons accusation

BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com

The commander of U.S. military forces for Latin America and the Caribbean said Thursday that he has seen no evidence that Cuba is producing biological weapons from its biomedical research program.

''The Cubans do have a very active R&D [research-and-development] program,'' said Army Maj. Gen. Gary Speer. ``They pride themselves on their biomedical advances and it kind of fits into the purpose for which that is used.''

But he said he first learned from news reports about an allegation by a senior U.S. diplomat responsible for arms proliferation and terror issues that linked the research-and-development project to biological weapons.

So he rang up the Intelligence Directorate at the Doral-based Southern Command to check.

'I called my J-2, the intelligence officer, and said, `What's the deal?' ''

Speer also said he didn't know why John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, on May 6 -- days before former President Jimmy Carter's five-day trip to Havana. The general said he was ``surprised he raised the subject.''

What Bolton said was this: ``The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.''

CUBAN DENIAL

Fidel Castro and government spokesmen in Cuba flatly deny the allegation.

Speer said, based on his understanding of the issue, ''it's kind of all the same science,'' which would be used in both medical research and weapons processing.

``I think what Mr. Bolton said in his statement, it kind of got reported as an accusation that the Cubans were . . . that we had evidence that they were actually producing bio-weapons. And I'm not sure that's the case.''

The question of Cuba's current bioterror capacity touched off a firestorm in Washington and Cuba-watching circles.

Carter said during his trip to Cuba that U.S. officials had told him before his visit there was no evidence linking Cuba to the export of biological weaponry.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell likewise sought to clarify Bolton's comments, saying Cuba ''has the capacity and capability to conduct such research,'' rather than actually possessing offensive bioterror weapons.

-- Cherri (whatever@who.cares), May 26, 2002


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