Cuba denies US charge it is bio-terror threat

Friday, April 2, 2004

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba's top diplomat has denied a new US charge that Havana is a "terrorist and (biological weapons) threat to the United States," countering that the United States is looking for a pretext to invade.

Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Wednesday denied the allegation saying "all of that is false."

In Washington, John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, told Congress in written testimony Tuesday that the island "remains a terrorist and (biological weapons) threat to the United States" amid the ongoing US war on terror.

"I believe the case for the existence of a developmental Cuba (biological weapons research and development) effort is strong," Bolton said.

But Perez Roque slammed the charge, saying "Bolton is either schizophrenic when it comes to Cuba, or he is completely shameless."

Perez Roque denied that his country is developing biological weapons.

The State Department official "is simply looking to set out pretexts and justifications for military aggression against our country," Perez Roque added.

Bolton's charge came as part of a 25-page written statement on the development and spread of nuclear, chemical and biological arms, despite the fact the Bush administration gently backed away from the same allegations after Bolton made them in May 2002 and did not offer evidence.

On the heels of the US-led invasion of Iraq, Cuba has stepped up its military preparedness with drills and shelters, insisting it could be next on the Pentagon's list.

Cuba, which the US State Department lists as a state sponsor of terrorism, was outraged by the charge Bolton made in May 2002 and demanded that the US government offer proof. It did not.

On June 5, 2002 Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Carl Ford conceded in testimony before Congress that Washington did not have evidence

Havana had a full-fledged biological weapons "program" but maintained the administration was worried about Havana's capabilities.

For Wayne Smith, who was the top US diplomat in Havana during president Jimmy Carter's administration: "There's no evidence whatever.

"It's more WMD. You say they have this, and there's no evidence they do, but you say it anyway," Smith told AFP in Washington Wednesday, referring to the Iraq war.

"I would say all of that is quite absurd," Smith said.

In addition to the independent Center for Defense Information which visited Havana "others have traveled down, been through the biotech industry and no one finds any evidence at all that the Cubans are developing a bio-weapons system or even preparing to do such a thing," Smith said.

The United States and Cuba do not have full diplomatic ties, and the United States has had a full economic embargo on the only communist-ruled country in the Americas since 1962.

Florida, with more than 800,000 Cuban-Americans, opened the doors of the White House to President George W. Bush in 2000 and is seen as key to his reelection bid.

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