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        Cuba ridicules report it has biological arms

RTw 24.06.99 15:59


Copyright 1999 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

HAVANA, June 24 (Reuters) - Cuba dismissed on Thursday as a "ridiculous fantasy" a report in a U.S. newspaper that the island had developed biological weapons.
"It is one of the most ridiculous and fantastic things that has ever been said," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez said in a weekly news briefing.
He was reacting to an article published on Sunday by the Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald of Miami which cited a former Soviet biological warfare expert as saying that communist-ruled Cuba had a sophisticated biological warfare programme.
"Our country knows how to defend itself very well...but it has never occurred to anyone to think about producing chemical or biological weapons," Gonzalez said. "It would be absurd, crazy and dangerous," he added.
El Nuevo Herald quoted former Soviet army colonel Ken Alibek as saying that under the cover of its advanced biotechnology industry Cuba had been producing bacteriological weapons for nearly 10 years.
The newspaper said Alibek defected to the United States in 1992 and since then had acted as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defence and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Cuban spokesman Gonzalez said Cuba's biotechnology research centres were frequently visited by international scientists, including researchers from the United States. The U.S. authorities knew "perfectly well" that Cuba did not have bacteriological weapons, he added.
With the personal encouragement of President Fidel Castro, Cuba's government has invested several hundreds of millions of dollars into developing the island's biotechnology industry, which currently produces a wide range of products, including vaccines, interferon and monoclonal anti-bodies.
Cuban officials confirmed on Thursday that the head of one of the best-known Cuban biotechnology research and production centres, the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), was replaced this month.
Dr. Manuel Limonta, a prominent figure in Cuba's biotechnology industry, was substituted as director of the CIGB by Luis Herrera, his deputy.
The change came amid widespread reports of a government crackdown against corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency in key areas of the economy like tourism.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gonzalez told reporters that Limonta had not been replaced because of any question about his honesty, but because it was felt he had reached the limits of his capacity to develop the biotechnology research centre.
Limonta would stay on at the centre as a researcher.