Published Wednesday, October 10, 2001 in
The Miami Herald
Cuba forced to sell technology
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com.
WASHINGTON -- A deteriorating economy has forced Cuba to place its once
prestigious biotechnology into the hands of nations that could be using science
intended to save lives as a means to destroy it, according to a Cuban scientist
now living in the United States.
The biotechnology used to manufacture three lifesaving medical products --
and which could be used to produce biochemical weapons -- has been sold to Iran,
one of seven nations on the State Department's list of states that sponsor
terrorism, the scientist said, calling the sale "profoundly disturbing.''
José de la Fuente, the former director of research and development at
the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) in Havana, made the
disclosure in this month's issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
SOLD TO IRAN
De la Fuente said that between 1995 and 1998, Cuba sold Iran the production
technology for a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine; an interferon used for the
treatment of some viral diseases and various types of cancer, and streptokinase,
used to treat heart attacks and other thrombolytic disorders.
But de la Fuente and other scientists say the same technology could also be
used to produce lethal agents to use as biochemical weapons -- like anthrax
bacteria or smallpox virus. Many steps in the fermentation process that produces
vaccines and other medicines are similar to the one used to manufacture
biochemical weapons.
"Many technologies that are used to make medications are the same
technologies that could be used for harmful intent,'' said Amy Smithson, a
chemical and biological weapons expert at Henry Stimson Center in Washington. "The
fermenters are the same.''
De la Fuente fears that's exactly what Iran intends to do. "No one,''
he wrote in the journal article, "believes that Iran is interested in these
technologies for the purpose of protecting all the children in the Middle East
from hepatitis, or treating their people with cheap streptokinase when they
suffer sudden cardiac arrest . . .
"The sale to Iran of the production technology for three of the CIGB's
most significant accomplishments . . . is profoundly disturbing to many of us
who gave so much time and effort to the development of an economically viable
but essentially altruistic biotechnology in our country.''
His revelation comes at the same time the FBI is investigating the
possibility that man-made anthrax bacteria was used to poison employees at a
South Florida publishing company, and as experts nervously debate the
possibility of biochemical assaults in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
Evidence in the Sept. 11 investigation has led investigators to crop dusters
and unlawfully obtained licenses to drive trucks hauling hazardous material.
De la Fuente, who fled Cuba by boat in 1999, said that although he has no
reason to think that Cuba's sale of the technology to Iran was malicious, the
outcome could be.
"This technology could be used for the purpose of producing bioweapons
and other toxins that could be used in bioterrorist attacks,'' said de la
Fuente, now a faculty member at Oklahoma State University.
REASON: MONEY
The reason for the sale, he said, was simple: money, Cuba's "desperate
need for hard currency.''
"I cannot in any way confirm the use of this technology for anything
other than [vaccines]. But the possibility exists,'' he said. "My worry is
not that Cuba actually sold the technology, but what can be done once they
[Iran] have the technology.''
Officials at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington dismissed de la
Fuente's assertion, claiming that having been the target of chemical warfare,
Cuba abhors such tactics. Over the years, Cuba has blamed illnesses, deaths and
damage to agricultural crops to chemical attacks launched by enemies in Miami.
"If any country has suffered from biological warfare, it is Cuba,''
said Luis Fernández, a spokesman.
Fernández acknowledged that Cuba has sold pharmaceutical products to
a number of countries, but he said he could not confirm if Iran has purchased
Cuban-developed biotechnology used to make medications to combat illnesses such
as hepatitis B.
But he denied roundly that any Cuban product could be used for biological
warfare. "Cuba has never produced anything that is harmful, nor will it
ever, nor does it need to,'' Fernández said. "People are looking for
ghosts that don't exist.''
De la Fuente said the issue is not whether Cuba is making biological weapons
-- there is no credible evidence of that -- but that the biotechnology with such
a capability exists and is on the market.
Smithson noted that Cuba "has never appeared on any public list of
countries with the capability to make biological weapons.''
But she agreed with de la Fuente's assertion that technology used to make
medications are the same technologies that could be used for harmful intent.
"That's the global truth,'' she said.
CLOSE LINKS
The close relationship between Cuba and Iran became evident in May when
President Fidel Castro went on a tour to the Middle East and Asia that included
visits to Iran, Syria, Algeria and Malaysia. At the time, Castro said: "Iran
and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees.''
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Castro has been vocal in condemning terrorist
acts, though he has opposed military retaliation.
Meanwhile, a national campaign is under way to remove Cuba from the State
Department's list of terrorist nations. The campaign, which started with 16
signatures from policy groups stretching from Miami to San Francisco, continues
to gain support, said Anya Landau of the Center for International Policy in
Washington.
UM PAPER
Castro's links to terrorism are also the source for a recently published
paper at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American
Studies.
Among Castro's contributions, according to the UM report: support for the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Basque separatist movement
from Spain known as ETA, the Irish Republican Army and several 1960s- and
1970s-era American radical groups accused of killing police officers and bombing
public buildings.
"Cuba's geographical location, Castro's continuous connections with
these groups and states and the harboring of terrorists in Havana creates a
dynamic that requires vigilance and alertness,'' writes Jaime Suchlicki,
director of the institute.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., during a recent visit with The Herald's editorial
board, said Cuba "clearly has the capability of producing chemical and
biological ingredients that could become weapons of mass destruction.''
But whether Cuban scientists are in fact facilitating such efforts, Graham
said, is unknown in part because the international inspection agencies have not
been given access to facilities.
"The Cubans say that's a matter of national sovereignty and that 'we
are not using them for any inappropriate purpose,' '' Graham said, adding: "Nobody,
at least nobody that I'm aware of in the United States, feels that we know what
Cuba's doing.''
Former members of CANF regroup
By Elaine de Valle. edevalle@herald.com.
Several longtime board members of the Cuban American National Foundation who
publicly resigned over differences with the current leadership announced Tuesday
the creation of a new exile organization to promote democracy and human rights
in Cuba.
The objective of the new group is "to continue the efforts and
commitment of a dedicated group of individuals who for many years have worked to
promote liberty and democracy for Cuba,'' according to a press release issued
late Tuesday.
Its name, principals, short-term and long-term objectives as well as the
names of the four directors were to be announced today at a press conference in
Coral Gables.
Although some of the ex-CANF members reached Tuesday would not identify the
group by name, a nonprofit called the Cuban Liberty Council filed with the
Florida Division of Corporations on Aug. 22. That was two weeks after 20 board
members resigned from the foundation, citing differences with its leadership's
guidance and the expenditure of resources.
Among the founders of the new group are some of the foundation's most
prominent former members, most of whom were close to founder Jorge Mas Canosa
before he died in 1997.
They included onetime CANF Chairman Alberto Hernandez; former Treasurer
Feliciano Foyo; Horacio García; Diego Suárez; Ignacio Sánchez;
Luis Zuñiga; and radio host Ninoska Pérez Castellón, who
ran the foundation's shortwave radio broadcasts until she resigned in July.
The departure of Pérez and her husband, Roberto Martín Pérez,
a board member and former political prisoner, was followed within weeks by the
public resignation of the other 20 members who said they disagreed with CANF
Chairman Jorge Mas Santos' move to woo the Latin Grammy awards -- which they
found incompatible with the foundation's mission of bringing liberty to Cuba --
and what they called the founder's son's "dictatorial style'' in
decision-making.
Reached on Tuesday, neither Zuñiga nor Pérez Castellón
would comment on the group. There will be a press conference at the Biltmore
Hotel in Coral Gables this morning. But other sources said the organization had
an internal electoral process to name leaders.
According to the state incorporation papers, García is named as the
president, Hernandez and Suarez are vice presidents, Foyo is the treasurer, and
Sanchez is the secretary.
Zuñiga is listed as the group's registered agent. The address is 465
W. Park Dr., No. 9., in the Fountainebleau area of West Miami-Dade.
Word of the new group was received with measured optimism by foundation
Executive Director Joe Garcia, who said he hoped the council's agenda would
concentrate on the cause.
"All who struggle for the liberty of Cuba are welcome,'' Garcia said. "There
are 173 exile groups; 174 is welcome. Everybody who puts time, money and effort
in trying to bring about democracy and peace to the people of Cuba is welcome.''
He added that he hopes the group will be serious-minded in its efforts and
not based on attacks at the foundation and its leadership.
Santos could not be reached for comment late Tuesday. But he has said in the
past that he does not regret taking pragmatic steps to further the cause of
Cuba. Garcia said Tuesday night that the foundation had not wavered in its main
mission.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
