Cuba: Bushies Stamp Their Feet over Discredited Charges Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [The best the scum in the US administration can do now that they've been laughed off the stage is to stamp their feet and say, "Did too! Did too!" It's true, it's true 'cuz we claim we believe it's true."] Reuters Market News via yahoo - May 10, 2002 Castro sees 'sinister' move in US biowar charge By Anthony Boadle HAVANA, May 10 (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Friday accused the U.S. government of "lying blatantly" when it charged earlier this week that Cuba was developing biological weapons and had shared technology with enemies of the United States. The Cuban leader called the Bush administration's charge a "sinister" new maneuver in a 43-year obsession with destroying his communist-led country. Castro said the charge was a "well-aimed" move to stop U.S. sales of food to Cuba that were authorized by Congress a year ago and to counter growing support among Americans for further easing of a 40-year trade embargo against the island. "Who will believe the vile slander that we Cubans are developing biological warfare programs?" Castro asked in a speech broadcast on state-run television. "We must ask for proof, that they present one single bit of proof. They don't have proof and they can't have it, because it does not exist. There isn't an atom of truth in this," he said. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said on Monday that, along with Libya and Syria, Cuba was working to develop arms of mass destruction, in particular biological weapons. Bolton said Cuba's threat to U.S. security had been underplayed in a 1998 Pentagon report that found that Cuba, 90 miles off the U.S. mainland, was no longer a military threat. He also said analysts and Cuban defectors had cast suspicion on what was going on in Cuba's sophisticated biomedical industry, supported until 1990 by the Soviet Union. One of the most advanced in Latin America, the industry produces medicines and vaccines sold to many countries. CARTER TO TOUR BIOTECH CENTER Bolton's remarks came six days before former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is scheduled to visit the island in a bid to improve U.S.-Cuban relations. Carter will meet Castro as well as Cuban dissidents with whom he will discuss the human rights situation. He will also tour Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the facility that has done groundbreaking research that the Bush administration now believes is a threat to U.S. national security. Cuba says its biotechnology and genetic engineering program is dedicated exclusively to such peaceful purposes as plant cloning and pharmaceutical research and development. Cuba has technical cooperation programs and joint ventures in biotechnology with several 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 U.S. President George W. Bush this year as part of an "axis of evil" bent on promoting terrorism. Cuba says the Iranian plant will produce vaccines, interferon, and other pharmaceuticals for sale in Iran and to neighboring countries. "Cuba has nothing to hide at all. On the contrary, we are proud of our development in the field of biomedical research," Castro said. Responding to Castro, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Washington stood by its charge. "Our experts believe that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort and that Cuba has provided dual use biotechnology to other rogue states," James Carragher, coordinator for Cuban affairs in the State Department, told Reuters by telephone. Carragher said food sales to Cuba would continue as long as they were in line with legislation approved by Congress. HAVANA, May 10 (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Friday accused the U.S. government of "lying blatantly" when it charged earlier this week that Cuba was developing biological weapons and had shared technology with enemies of the United States. The Cuban leader called the Bush administration's charge a "sinister" new maneuver in a 43-year obsession with destroying his communist-led country. Castro said the charge was a "well-aimed" move to stop U.S. sales of food to Cuba that were authorized by Congress a year ago and to counter growing support among Americans for further easing of a 40-year trade embargo against the island. "Who will believe the vile slander that we Cubans are developing biological warfare programs?" Castro asked in a speech broadcast on state-run television. "We must ask for proof, that they present one single bit of proof. They don't have proof and they can't have it, because it does not exist. There isn't an atom of truth in this," he said. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said on Monday that, along with Libya and Syria, Cuba was working to develop arms of mass destruction, in particular biological weapons. Bolton said Cuba's threat to U.S. security had been underplayed in a 1998 Pentagon report that found that Cuba, 90 miles off the U.S. mainland, was no longer a military threat. He also said analysts and Cuban defectors had cast suspicion on what was going on in Cuba's sophisticated biomedical industry, supported until 1990 by the Soviet Union. One of the most advanced in Latin America, the industry produces medicines and vaccines sold to many countries. CARTER TO TOUR BIOTECH CENTER Bolton's remarks came six days before former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is scheduled to visit the island in a bid to improve U.S.-Cuban relations. Carter will meet Castro as well as Cuban dissidents with whom he will discuss the human rights situation. He will also tour Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the facility that has done groundbreaking research that the Bush administration now believes is a threat to U.S. national security. Cuba says its biotechnology and genetic engineering program is dedicated exclusively to such peaceful purposes as plant cloning and pharmaceutical research and development. Cuba has technical cooperation programs and joint ventures in biotechnology with several 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 U.S. President George W. Bush this year as part of an "axis of evil" bent on promoting terrorism. Cuba says the Iranian plant will produce vaccines, interferon, and other pharmaceuticals for sale in Iran and to neighboring countries. "Cuba has nothing to hide at all. On the contrary, we are proud of our development in the field of biomedical research," Castro said. Responding to Castro, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Washington stood by its charge. "Our experts believe that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort and that Cuba has provided dual use biotechnology to other rogue states," James Carragher, coordinator for Cuban affairs in the State Department, told Reuters by telephone. Carragher said food sales to Cuba would continue as long as they were in line with legislation approved by Congress. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytact-05.12.02-03:03:57-24688