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U.S. commander of Latin forces questions weapons accusation
By Carol Rosenberg. crosenberg@herald.com.
The Miami Herald, May 24,
2002.
The commander of U.S. military forces for Latin America and the Caribbean
said Thursday that he has seen no evidence that Cuba is producing biological
weapons from its biomedical research program.
''The Cubans do have a very active R&D [research-and-development]
program,'' said Army Maj. Gen. Gary Speer. "They pride themselves on their
biomedical advances and it kind of fits into the purpose for which that is
used.''
But he said he first learned from news reports about an allegation by a
senior U.S. diplomat responsible for arms proliferation and terror issues that
linked the research-and-development project to biological weapons. So he rang up
the Intelligence Directorate at the Doral-based Southern Command to check.
'I called my J-2, the intelligence officer, and said, 'What's the deal?' ''
Speer also said he didn't know why John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State
for Arms Control and International Security, chose to raise the issue in a
speech at the Heritage Foundation on May 6 -- days before former President Jimmy
Carter's five-day trip to Havana. The general said he was "surprised he
raised the subject.''
What Bolton said was this: "The United States believes that Cuba has at
least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.''
CUBAN DENIAL
Fidel Castro and government spokesmen in Cuba flatly deny the allegation.
Speer said, based on his understanding of the issue, ''it's kind of all the
same science,'' which would be used in both medical research and weapons
processing.
"I think what Mr. Bolton said in his statement, it kind of got reported
as an accusation that the Cubans were . . . that we had evidence that they were
actually producing bio-weapons. And I'm not sure that's the case.''
The question of Cuba's current bioterror capacity touched off a firestorm in
Washington and Cuba-watching circles.
Carter said during his trip to Cuba that U.S. officials had told him before
his visit there was no evidence linking Cuba to the export of biological
weaponry.
And Secretary of State Colin Powell likewise sought to clarify Bolton's
comments, saying Cuba ''has the capacity and capability to conduct such
research,'' rather than actually possessing offensive bioterror weapons.
PIRACY
Speer made his remarks in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with
Herald reporters and editors that covered several strategic issues across the
region. He also said:
• U.S. intelligence believes that profits from illegal CD sales and
long-distance telephone piracy in South America are supporting Middle East
groups linked to international terror, notably the Hamas, Hezbollah and Gamaa
Islamiya, or Islamic Group, whose followers have been tied to Osama bin Laden's
al Qaeda network. Such fraud is big business in the tri-border area of
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay where smuggling and corruption are endemic, he
said.
No one can quantify how much money is diverted to the Middle Eastern groups
but the U.S. is aware of a pattern that goes to so-called charitable
organizations which, Speer said, have a terror component.
COLOMBIA
• Colombia's FARC insurgent movement has increased some activities and
received a measure of support across the border in neighboring Venezuela since
the election of President Hugo Chávez. However, he said, there has been
no evidence that the Chávez government actively supports the insurgents.
• He expects the Southern Command to continue to be responsible for
military operations at the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay even after
the Pentagon creates a Northern Command, whose territory includes Cuba. The
line, he said, is more of a technical area of responsibility for a Pentagon
component being created to protect the U.S. borders and territory from terror
attack. But, he said, if there were future military-to-military contacts with
the government of Cuba, he predicted that Southcom would have oversight.
Southern Command is principally responsible for U.S. military activities --
training courses, drug interdiction missions and other support -- under
President Andrés Pastrana's Plan Colombia.
And Speer said the line is increasingly blurred between the FARC's insurgent
activity and the drug smuggling operations that the U.S. military is trying to
disrupt.
Under tough guidelines for what the U.S. military may do in Colombia,
Congress has declared that funds and operations can only be aimed at cocaine and
other drug operations and that U.S. forces must not meddle in the civil war.
But, Speer said, "I'm to the point where I can't tell the difference
between the FARC as a drug trafficker, the FARC as a terrorist and the FARC as
an insurgent.''
Yet the fine line means that U.S. military trainers can only work with a
specific anti-drug unit of the Colombian military while leaving all other units
on their own to grapple with the larger issue of providing security in the
cities and countryside.
Speer, a two-star general, has for 10 months been in charge of all U.S.
military operations in the region. President Bush has chosen Army Lt. Gen. James
T. Hill, now commander of an Ft. Lewis in Washington state, to receive a fourth
star and become the new Southcom chief, replacing Marine Gen. Peter Pace who is
now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. | 
