Posted on 05/09/2002 9:12:11 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba denounced as "vile" U.S. charges that it is seeking to develop biological weapons, and said on Thursday it would respond to the accusation at greater length the following day.
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said on Monday that, along with Libya and Syria, Cuba is working to develop arms of mass destruction, in particular biological weapons, and may be sharing the technology with other countries.
"The vile accusations against Cuba implicating it in the development of supposed biological weapons programs will receive an adequate and complete response Friday," a brief government statement said.
Cuba had remained silent on Bolton's charges, a delay not uncommon for Havana in responding to accusations from abroad.
Cuba said the response would come on Friday evening, presumably on a nightly public affairs program where official commentators, senior government officials, and sometimes Cuban President Fidel sound off on events, and in particular on relations with the United States.
"Cuba's threat to our security has been underplayed," Bolton said on Monday, adding the United States believed Havana had "at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort (and has) provided dual-use technology to other rogue states." He refused to name the states Cuba has allegedly supplied.
ADVANCED BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
The remarks piled a fresh accusation onto Washington's long-standing criticism of President Fidel Castro's one-party communist system. The United States, which maintains a 40-year-old economic embargo on Havana, already includes Cuba on a list of nations it says sponsor terrorism.
Cuba has one of the most advanced biotechnology and genetic engineering programs in the Third World, which it says is dedicated exclusively to such peaceful purposes as plant cloning and pharmaceutical research and development.
Cuba has technical cooperation programs and joint ventures in the biotechnology field with numerous countries, including South Africa, Brazil, China, Canada, and some European Union nations.
Since 1996, Cuba and Iran have been building a joint venture pharmaceutical research, development and production facility in Karaj, Iran, just outside the Iranian capital of Tehran, valued at $60 million.
Iran was branded by President Bush this year as part of an "axis of evil" bent on promoting terrorism.
Some Cuban exile organizations in the United States have charged the Karaj complex is a front for biological weapons development.
Cuba says the Iranian plant will produce vaccines, interferon, and other pharmaceuticals it has developed, for sale in Iran and to neighboring countries.
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