Fidel Castro responds to BioWar accusations
Campaign News | Friday, 10 May 2002
TV address details Cuba's Biotechnology acheivements
Fidel Responds to US BioWar Allegations
PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7215 * Fax: 212-689-9073
RESPONSE FROM DR. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, TO THE STATEMENTS MADE BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
ON BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS.
Official Translation - May 10, 2002
Hardly three days ago, someone only too well known to us, Assistant
Secretary of State Otto Reich, was caught out in an embarrassing lie
when he said that four Cuban planes had landed in the Venezuelan
capital on April 12, and that nobody knew "what they were doing
there, what they were carrying, we don't know." Apparently, it was
the beginning of an anti-Cuba campaign or a vendetta due to the
amazing failure of the fascist coup he set in motion, or both.
On Tuesday May 7, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs challenged him
publicly, the State Department said that it had no confirmation
whatsoever, and that it did not want to discuss the subject any more.
The idea of destroying Cuba, an obsession that has lasted more than
43 years, has led and still leads U.S. policy down a tortuous path
filled with lies, mistakes, failures and crimes. What the US
government is telling the world today and what it is doing with Cuba
is perhaps the most grievous and demoralizing contradiction in its
foreign policy. This great power had never found itself in such a
compromising position and it has no alternative but to lie, lie and
lie. And there is no lack of unscrupulous characters in major public
positions willing to do so, no lack of press spokesmen caught up in
the continuous and bitter need to right wrongs and explain the
inexplicable in their bosses' statements.
Even a man like Colin Powell, son of Jamaican immigrants, despite his
military training or maybe because of it, is not considered a hawk
since he knows about war and has seen many men die -- a man that many
Americans even came to look on as a potential presidential candidate
-- has found himself enmeshed in shameful and un-ennobling intrigues
promoted by such characters. He knows better than anyone else how
inexperienced they are and what little intellectual and political
worth those people have.
Who can this new character involved in a sinister maneuver against
Cuba can deceive? Mr. John Bolton, an Under Secretary of State, none
other than the one for Arms Control. What are they aiming for with
the attack launched by this official in an aggressive speech against
Cuba given at the Heritage Foundation, famous for its ultra-rightwing
stance?
His statement, supposedly an analysis of the dangers of terrorism
threatening the United States, began by saying: "In addition to Libya
and Syria, there is a threat coming from another BWC signatory, and
one that lies just 90 miles from the U.S. mainland -- namely, Cuba."
Then, after the usual name-calling and stupid remarks full of the
hatred common in such arrogant and misinformed people, Mr. Bolton
added something all his own:
"We know that Cuba is collaborating with other state sponsors of
terror.
"Castro has repeatedly denounced the U.S. war on terrorism. He
continues to view terror as a legitimate tactic to further
revolutionary objectives. Last year, Castro visited Iran, Syria and
Libya -- all designees on the same list of terrorist-sponsoring
states. At Teheran University, these were his words: 'Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees. The
U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from
close-up.'
"'But Cuba's threat to our security has often been underplayed. An
official U.S. government report in 1998 concluded that Cuba did not
represent a significant military threat to the United States or the
region. It went only so far as to say that, "Cuba has a limited
capacity to engage in some military and intelligence activities which
could pose a danger to U.S. citizens in some circumstances.'"
Mr. Bolton immediately looked for something to cover up the
suspicious fact that it had never before occurred to any US
government official to make such an infamous accusation against Cuba.
Mr. Bolton blames this weakness on William Cohen, who was the U.S.
Defense Secretary four years earlier when the criticized report was
issued. Mr. Bolton made not the slightest mention of the fact that
scarcely five months and two weeks earlier, on November 19, 2001, he
himself made absolutely no mention of Cuba in a speech given to the
conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Weapons in
Geneva when he cited many countries that were a source of concern to
him as potential biological weapons producers. Why this sudden and
unexpected change?
Mr. Bolton's May 6 piece of tabloid journalism ends by saying: "For
four decades Cuba has maintained a well-developed and sophisticated
biomedical industry, supported until 1990 by the Soviet Union. This
industry is one of the most advanced in Latin America, and leads in
the production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines that are sold
worldwide. Analysts and Cuban defectors have long cast suspicion on
the activities conducted in these biomedical facilities.
"Here is what we now know: The United States believes that Cuba has
at least a limited offensive biological warfare
research-and-development effort. Cuba has provided dual-use
biotechnology to other rogue states. We are concerned that such
technology could support BW programs in those states. We call on Cuba
to cease all BW-applicable cooperation with rogue states and to fully
comply with all of its obligations under the Biological Weapons
Convention."
The international press immediately picked up Mr. Bolton's string of
Olympic-size lies, which is exactly what he wanted:
"Washington, May 6 (ANSA)--Under Secretary of State John Bolton today
accused Cuba of helping "enemy governments' with biological weapons
programs.
"'Cuba had at least an offensive biological weapons program and could
be transferring its results to other states hostile to the United
States', Bolton said.
"The Under Secretary Bolton spoke to the Heritage Foundation, one of
the ultraconservative groups in Washington."
"Washington, May 6 (DPA)--The United States today accused Cuba of
developing offensive biological weapons and of providing information
about them to states hostile to the United States, and urged
President Fidel Castro's government to cease this cooperation."
"Washington, May 6 (REUTERS)--On Monday, the United States accused
three countries -- Cuba, Libya and Syria -- of trying to develop
weapons of mass destruction and warned that it would take steps to
prevent them from supplying these arms to terrorist groups.
"'States that sponsor terror and pursue weapons of mass destruction
must stop. States that renounce terror and abandon WMD can become
part of our effort. But those who do not can expect to become our
targets.'"
"Washington, May 6 (EFE)--The United States today added Cuba to Syria
and Libya on the list of countries who are part of the "axis of evil'
dedicated to manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, and warned
that it would take steps to prevent them from supplying such weapons
to terrorist organizations."
"Washington, May 6 (NOTIMEX)--The United States today included Cuba
in the so-called "axis of evil' because it thinks it has the capacity
to develop biological weapons which are a threat to United States
security, a greater threat than that from Iraq, Iran and North
Korea."
"Washington, May 6 (AFP)--On Monday, the United States warned Cuba
against any proliferation of biological weapons, urging the Havana
government to cease providing any kind of biotechnological equipment
to countries that Washington considers dangerous, such as Iraq and
Libya."
The list and the extension of articles and reports on the subject
would be endless.
The job is already done! The entire world, especially the American
public that is constantly bombarded with perfidious lies, has been
informed and is ready to believe that Cuba is a biological power, that it has a program for producing such weapons and that it poses a
danger to the United States. And as John Bolton, the very
distinguished Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and
International Security, has said it, we have to believe it.
However, as the old saying goes: "Lies have short legs." In the
United States itself some people are astounded and they are beginning
to figure out the whole game:
"Washington, May 6 (NOTIMEX)--The United States today refused to
produce the evidence it had claimed to have to back up the
accusations made against Cuba.
"Both, the White House and State Department spokesmen said that the
accusation against Cuba is not based on assumptions but on
confidential information about the biological and chemical potential
of the Cuban pharmaceutical industry.
"This accusation took not only the international community by
surprise but also members of the United States Congress."
According to the same dispatch, "political analysts pointed out that
the accusation against Cuba made by President George W. Bush's
administration could be part of a White House strategy to find a
justification for tightening its isolationist policy on Cuba.
"The statement that Cuba could pose a terrorist threat to the
security of the United States was made at a time when several
proposals to relax Washington's Cuba policy are being analyzed on
Capital Hill.
"Nevertheless, political analysts maintain that in view of this and
bearing in mind that his brother Jeb will be seeking reelection as
governor of Florida this year, President Bush wants to ingratiate
himself with the Cuban exile community.
"Given the fact that more than four decades of economic blockade
against Cuba have not removed Fidel Castro from power in Havana, the
only people who want this isolationist policy to remain in effect and
[more extreme] are the vast majority of the Cuban exile community in
the United States.
"The possibility of including Cuba as a member of the so-called 'axis
of evil' with Iraq, Iran and North Korea at the head would make it
easier for Bush to obtain the Congress backing for increasing instead
of reducing the economic stranglehold on the Island."
"Washington, May 6 (AP)--"'I think that it will delay us taking new
steps towards a trade opening,' said Graham, chairman of the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. 'Unilateral steps will be most
affected.'
"Graham, however, did not hide his amazement at Bolton's accusation.
He said that in March the Committee he chairs held a secret hearing
on security related issues and the administration made no mention of
biological weapons."
On May 7, when a journalist asked White House spokesman Ari
Fleischer: "Is there any proof of this, or is this an assumption of
the United States?" Fleischer replied: "No, it's not an assumption. I
assure you that Secretary Bolton would not have said it if he did not
have good cause, reason and fact to say it. That was based on sound
analysis, and on information that is studied and available to the
United States government."
This is a typical reply by someone who is launching an absolutely
baseless and groundless accusation. The only thing studied carefully
is lies and deceit. It is certainly a very sad role this spokesman
has. Furthermore, why should we believe Mr. Bolton?
Anyone who remembers the fifteen incredible pretexts, known today
through declassified official documents, that were elaborated at the
end of 1961 by the high US authorities to undertake a direct military
attack against Cuba in 1962, would not be surprised by such a
sinister lie. We demand proof. Let them produce even the tiniest
piece of evidence! They do not have any, and they cannot have them
because they simply do not exist. They should not be hiding behind
the alleged sensitivity of their sources, when there is actually not
an atom of truth in what they are saying. This very old trick and
overly stupid argument only serve to demonstrate their little
consideration for, and low concept of, the American people whose
intelligence deserve more respect.
I will also say this: If a Cuban scientist from any of our
biotechnology institutes had been cooperating with any country in the
development of biological weapons, or if he or she had tried to
create them on his or her own initiative, he or she would be
immediately presented in a court of justice as we would consider it
an act of treason to the country.
The Law against Terrorist Acts passed by the National Assembly of
Cuba, in its Article 10, provides: "The person who manufactures, facilitates, sells, transports, sends, introduces in the country or
keeps in his or her possession, under any form or in any place {...}
chemical or biological agents, or any other substance from whose
investigation, design or combination thereof any product can be
derived that meets the description offered," is liable to sanctions
of 10 to 30 years of imprisonment, life sentence or capital
punishment.
This is really an absolute lie, a treacherous blow against the sale
of food to Cuba authorized in a Law from the year 2000, which was
subsequently modified on many occasions through amendments introduced
by the staunch advocates of the blockade that made it practically
impossible to apply it after it had been passed. They are simply
trying to mislead and dishearten the growing number of Americans who
are increasingly upset by the most cruel and inhuman measures against
the Cuban people, which clash with the idealism, and ethics of a
nation that has, in fact, been deceived for dozens of years with
regards to Cuba.
The only truth in Bolton's lie is that Cuba is 90 miles from the
continental territory of the United States.
It is a false and manipulated assertion that our country has
repeatedly denounced the United States war against terrorism. I have
said, and I stand by it, that the solution to this scourge will not
be reached through war, which would only serve to breed hatred and
fanaticism but rather through a sincere and determined cooperation
among all countries in the world and by building a truly universal
culture and conscience against terrorism.
We were the first to put forward this form of cooperation the very
same day of the tragedy in New York.
It is a slanderous invention, a fabricated lie, to say that Castro
considers terror as a legitimate tactic for furthering revolutionary
objectives. Actually, everybody knows that our revolutionary movement
never used such methods that do not fit in with our doctrine, our
principles and our concept of the armed struggle.
Mr. Bolton, you'd better get your facts right. Don't be misled by the
fantastic stories told by your dear friends from the CANF. Never were
the civilian population and innocent people the victims of our
actions. Our tactic always was to fight against heavily equipped
enemy units. Presently, you want to call terrorism any armed
resistance, regardless of the legitimate causes that may justify it.
Along that line you could end up applying such definition to the
struggle of the American colonists who rebelled and fought against
English domination. George Washington and those who, after long years
of war and enormous sacrifices, conquered the independence of the
United States of America were not terrorists.
Someone has failed you badly, Mr. Bolton, when they told you about my
speech at the university of Teheran. It was not one speech, but two, in two universities and a few remarks at the end of my visit to the
mausoleum that keeps the remains of the Imam Khomeini. I have gone
over them both in detail. In my remarks to the students in Teheran, there is not one single paragraph that resembles the one you
dishonestly included in your speech at the Heritage Foundation on May
6. I never said that "Iran and Cuba in cooperation with each other
could bring the United States to its knees." I did say, in one of the
three speeches I made during that visit, that imperialism was bereft
of ideas, that ideas are more powerful than weapons, and that one day
imperialism would crumble. I also said that "the Iranian people, with
heroism and not with weapons, defeated the Shah, and this showed the
power of ideas. Also, there could never be anyone in the world so
powerful that could not be defeated by ideas."
Finally, I added: "That is our hope. There is a superpower with
thousands of nuclear arms, planes, armored ships, aircraft carriers, intelligent missiles [...] No matter how many weapons nor how much
wealth it has, it will not be able to defeat human beings."
I made not the slightest mention of the use of weapons in that
struggle. In fact, I said just the opposite. That is what I think, that is how I saw it then and that is what I said. I am not in the
habit of hiding my thoughts or manipulating my words. My three
speeches in the Iranian capital were broadcast on Cuban radio and
television. Thus, Mr. Bolton did not discover anything, and I do not
renounce my ideas. I said some other things about doctrines and
political principles. I have all the tapes and the transcription of
those speeches. I can prove what I have said.
It should also be said that when I visited Iran, I had the honor of
getting to know a great country with a culture that goes back
thousands of years, a country with deep religious beliefs and a great
spiritual strength; a country wanting to eradicate poverty, fighting
against drug trafficking and other such plagues, determined to bring
education, health, employment and well being to more than 60 million
people. Not one of the many leaders I talked to said anything to me
about biological weapons or any other kind of weapon.
What a great difference I could perceive between that culture and
customs with those of the West. But, I did not only visit that
country, I also visited Algeria, Malaysia, Qatar, Syria and Libya
where they showed me how Ghadafi's family home had been destroyed and
spoke about the loss of human life caused by the F-16 brutal air
raid, including a little girl.
Thousands of years of history accumulate in that part of the world, which must not be destroyed, nor their people annihilated. Billions
of people in the world have seen with deep indignation the televised
images of the terrible events in Palestine.
Apparently, when Mr. Bolton alluded to my speech in Teheran, he
irresponsibly and dishonestly mixed excerpts of what I had said with
fragments and statements of what other people said to foreign press
agencies, and information from wire service cables given by someone
else or things the speechwriter invented. My clear, precise, transparent statements can be found in the speeches I have mentioned
and in the press communiqué of May 10, 2001 issued by both
delegations where, by the way, the Cuban position against terrorism
is described in point 6 of the agreed document that literally reads:
"While condemning the phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms, especially state terrorism, the two parties agreed to cooperate
closely at a bilateral and international level to fight against and
eliminate this terrible phenomenon, to cooperate in the fight against
international organized crime and drug trafficking, being always
mindful of the cardinal principles of international law, and
particularly those of sovereignty and non-interference in the
internal affairs of states."
This statement was issued 127 days before September 11.
I should thank Mr. Bolton for his praise of our pharmaceutical
industry, one of the most advanced in Latin America, which "leads in
the production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines that are sold
worldwide," according to his own words. We only wish it was more
advanced. Even his country could benefit from some of its
discoveries, but they would not allow it. However, he lies
shamelessly when he tells the American and world public opinion that
the United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive
biological warfare research and development effort. This statement is
as false as it is grave.
Our researchers and doctors are educated with an elevated concept of
solidarity and ethics. Millions of people in the world can testify to
that. They work for the well being and health of human beings. For 40
years, 34,307 Cuban medical doctors and health workers have worked
free of charge in a large number of poor countries saving the lives
and safeguarding the health of millions of people. Nobody in the
world could beat them in their dedication and their willingness to
make sacrifices.
At this very moment, 2,671 of them are working in isolated and
inhospitable places in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. It
would be very difficult to persuade these men and women to produce
viruses and bacteria to kill children, women, old people or the
people of any country. The pride and high moral standards of our
people, which have led them to stand firm against 43 years of attacks
and blockade, rests on the rationality of a policy that does not
contradict their ethics and principles.
Thirty-nine thousand and eight hundred youths coming from more than
120 Third World countries have graduated in Cuba from 33 technical
and university specialties. Even under the conditions prevailing in
the special period, which resulted from the cruel blockade by the
United States, 8,053 youths from Latin America, the Caribbean and
Africa are studying medicine in our country free of charge, a career
that costs more than $200,000 in the United States.
In spite of Bolton's lies and those of many others like him, Cuba
enjoys great prestige because of the health services it has provided
to humanity. That is, for its true fight against another kind of
terrorism that many choose to ignore: the diseases that kill more
than 11 million children every year, whose lives could be saved were
it not for the selfish attitude of the industrialized world. An
incalculable number of people survive or recover their health thanks
to the selfless work of the doctors who come from a poor small
country and treat them with vaccines and preventive methods or
therapies developed by Cuba.
We would like to know if the U.S. government is doing something
similar, or if it would be prepared to cooperate with such programs
for the benefit of those that it euphemistically describes as
"emerging countries," as we have not excluded any economically
developed nation from our programs.
We have even offered hundreds of scholarships to study in the Latin
American School of Medical Sciences to U.S. youngsters who don't have
the money to study medicine in their country.
Cuban children are vaccinated against 13 diseases and enjoy wonderful
health. The infant mortality rate for every thousand live births is
lower than that of the United States itself. Medical care is
guaranteed to one hundred percent of the population absolutely free
of charge. Unfortunately in the United States, with a population of
over 280 million, 16 percent of the people do not have medical
insurance, and that includes more than 10 million children. In such
an immensely rich and scientifically advanced country where hundreds
of thousands of people die every year for these reasons, who is to
blame? Who kills these people? Who denounces such facts? How can they
invent, what gives them the moral right to claim from over there, and
who is going to believe their heinous slander that we Cubans are
developing biological warfare programs?
On the other hand, never in the 43 years of the Revolution's history
has anyone in our country launched or taken part in a terrorist act
against the United States from our territory. Not one drop of US
blood has been shed nor has any US company lost a single screw due to
terrorist acts originated in Cuba.
Those who in the United States are accusing our country of terrorism, or of supporting or sponsoring terrorism, cannot say that about Cuba.
Thousands of our compatriots have died and tens of thousands of acts
of sabotage have been recorded as part of terrorist actions and US
aggression against Cuba. Can their spokesmen deny these facts? I am
not referring to the American people; I am referring to their
government. The overriding question of the powers given to U.S.
government officials to effectuate extrajudicial executions and to
kill people anywhere in the world has not even been clarified. I have
personally often been the target of these sinister plans. That was
how they operated in the past. Have they or haven't they gone back to
such disgusting methods? Why doesn't Mr. Bolton tell us a little bit
about that subject?
As for weapons of mass destruction, Cuba's policy has been
irreproachable. No one has ever produced a single piece of evidence
that any program for developing nuclear, chemical or biological
weapons has been set up in our country. Those who have no sense of
ethics, or who fail to understand that the government of Cuba abides
by truth and transparency, might at least understand that it would
have been utterly stupid to behave in any other way. Any such program
would lead the economy of any small country to bankruptcy. Cuba would
never have been able to transport such weapons. Moreover, it would
be a mistake to use them in battle against an enemy that has a
thousand times more of those weapons and that would be only to happy
to find an excuse to use them.
>From a political point of view, we are living in an era when there
are and there will be weapons much more powerful that any produced
through technology, namely: the weapons of morality, reason and
ideas; with them no country is weak, but without them no nation is
powerful. Adherence to such a maxim requires exceptionally strong
convictions, steel nerves and talent. They should know by now that, as far as the Cuban people is concerned, the ideals that inspire
freedom, dignity, love of one's homeland, its identity, its culture
and the strictest sense of justice that human beings can conceive of
are more valuable than anything on Earth. These are not weapons of
mass destruction, but rather weapons of mass moral defense, and we
are willing to fight and die for them.
I understand that for a man like Bolton, intoxicated with the
military, economic and technological might of the superpower on whose
behalf he speaks, it might not be easy to understand these things.
However, it would be a good idea if he tried.
Cuba has absolutely nothing to hide. On the contrary, it is proud of
its development in the biomedical research field.
I shall offer a brief historical summary.
-1979: the Genetic Engineering Group was set up in the National
Center for Scientific research.
-1981: the first biotechnology scientific-productive institution
devoted to producing alpha and beta interferon was founded.
-The medical-pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry program: this
came into being as a result of the scientific, economic and social
development the country had achieved.
-Cuba met the standards for inspection and certification by
international agencies and by the national regulatory agencies of
those countries with which it was to have trading relations.
-The major part of the investment program is developed between 1990
and 1997. It would comprise 40 facilities.
-A completely humanitarian industry is developed to research and
produce medicines for preventing disease and saving lives, as well as
to increase food production.
-The purchase of technological equipment used worldwide from
commercial companies with an international reputation.
-Abiding by agreements entered by Cuba in compliance with the
Convention on Biological and Toxin Weapons, the Cuban biotechnology
industry, the health system and the civil defense organizations
submit an annual report to the United Nations on confidence building
measures.
-Many regulatory agencies from various countries have visited Cuban
productive biotechnology facilities as a prerequisite for marketing
our products in their countries.
-In the next few years, 50 new products will come on to the market.
These include biopharmaceuticals, vaccines and diagnosis kits.
-Our country already has a stock of intellectual property consisting
of more than 150 inventions and over 500 patents registered abroad.
The results of scientific research are published in the most
important international journals.
-1990: Our products began to be exported and exports have increased
every year since then.
-1992: Cuba signed the Convention on Biological Diversity ratified in
1994.
-1995: landmark forms of marketing are introduced: technology
transfers, at-risk development contracts with foreign companies, and
production-commercial partnerships.
-Today, products and technology of the Cuban biotechnology industry
are available in more than 40 countries
Agreements for Technology transfers or negotiations are currently
underway with 14 countries:
India: 4 transfers, 4 products
China: 2 transfers, 4 products.
Brazil: 2 transfers, 2 products.
Egypt: 4 transfers, 1 product under negotiation.
Malaysia: 6 transfers.
Iran: 4 transfers, 4 products.
Russia: 1 transfer, 1 product.
South Africa: 1 transfer, 1 product.
Tunisia: 1 transfer, 1 product.
Algeria: 1 transfer, 3 products.
Great Britain-Belgium: 1 transfer, 1 product.
Venezuela: 1 transfer, 2 products under negotiation.
Mexico: 1 transfer, 1 product
New trade and production negotiations are underway with 10 countries:
Malaysia, Holland, Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam, Mexico, Ukraine, Germany and the United States (in this case, negotiations
over the use of the Cuban anti-meningitis vaccine and the first
contacts for possible clinical trials with the EGF vaccine for lung
cancer).
Cuban biotechnology centers have already registered:
24 products, both biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.
49 cutting edge generic medicine.
5 products for treating AIDS.
15 new medical equipment
24 diagnosis systems.
And moving on from these results, scientific research is now focusing
on 60 projects.
Among the most significant new products that scientific researchers
try to obtain are the following:
29 new vaccines including 8 cancer vaccines, 4 of which are in the
clinical trial stage not only in Cuba but also in Canada, Argentina
and England.
21 innovative products for treating cancer plus the 28 cytostatics
already known, which a new plant will begin producing.
Cuban biotechnology centers have filed for patents on 150 inventions
that would bring our total number of patents registered to 505. Four
of these patents have been awarded the Medal of the World
Intellectual Property Organization.
Countless politicians, scientists and businesspeople have visited
Cuban biotechnology institutes. In the year 2000, 1520 people visited
just one of the most important centers; 484 of them came from the
United States.
The doors of our research centers are opened to any international
institution.
In an official public note, Cuba has proposed three important draft
agreements to the United States, which are more beneficial for the
United States than they are for Cuba, given the extent of the
problems in each of the two countries. One, a draft agreement on
immigration issues; two, a draft cooperation agreement to fight
illegal traff
