Carter visits Cuban bio-tech center; challenges terror charges
( 2002-05-14 09:28 ) (7 )

Jimmy Carter toured a major biotechnology lab in Cuba Monday and said US officials told him they had no evidence that Cuba was sharing information with other countries that could be used for terrorist purposes.

The former president told a gathering at Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology that before beginning his trip, he had asked the White House, State Department and intelligence officials "specifically on more than one occasion is there any evidence that Cuba has been involved in sharing any information to any other country on Earth that could be used for terrorist purposes."

"The answer from our experts on intelligence was 'no,'" Carter said.

Carter spoke as he was touring the research facility, which the Bush administration believes is a threat to US national security. Carter said he was raising the issue "with some degree of reluctance."

Last week, Undersecretary of State John Bolton said 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."

Secretary of State Colin Powell reacted to Carter's statement Monday, telling reporters: "I don't know what briefings President Carter may have received. I'm sure we made ourselves available to him. As Bolton said recently, we do believe that Cuba has a biological offensive research capability."

Mariela Ferretti, of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, the largest Cuban organization in exile, said Cuba's terror capacity is "something that our community has been warning about."

Cuban President Fidel Castro has denied the weapons allegations, and promised Carter full access to any biotechnology laboratory on the island.

On Friday, the Cuban leader said: "No one has ever presented a single shred of evidence that our homeland has conceived a program that develops nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."

One Day Before the Big Speech

The heightened debate over Cuba's biotechnology program comes at a delicate time, a day before Carter is scheduled to make a televised address at the University of Havana.

Carter's trip - particularly his speech - could have implications not just for the Cuban people and their government, but for US President Bush and his administration; his brother Jeb, Florida's governor; farms in the Midwest; and the war on terror.

The address is all the more significant because of its rarity: The last time a foreign dignitary addressed the Cuban people was during Pope John Paul II's January 1998 Mass in Havana's Revolution Square.

Castro said Carter was free to say whatever he wanted.

"You can express yourself freely whether or not we agree with part of what you say or with everything you say," Castro said to Carter on his arrival. "You will have free access to every place you want to go."

Castro also implied that Carter was free to make contact with human rights activists and dissidents.

Speaking in Spanish, Carter said despite "differences on some issues ... we welcome the opportunity to try to identify some points in common and some areas of cooperation."

Carter arrived in Cuba on Sunday, the first US president to visit since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. He is the highest-profile American to go to the island in the 43 years of enmity between Washington and Havana since Castro came to power in a 1959 revolution.

He dined with Castro on Sunday night. Before Carter leaves on Friday, he is expected to meet with Castro two more times.

Red Herring as a Biological Weapon

There has been speculation that the allegations against Cuba's biotechnology program are intended to derail any moves toward an easing of tensions that Carter might seek to accomplish on his trip.

"Given the timing of that announcement, it was probably an effort to cripple the Carter visit," said Thomas Paterson, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut.

Paterson pointed out that the Bush administration has a number of reasons for keeping Castro at arm's length. Jeb Bush - the president's younger brother - is coming up for re-election in Florida, which has a large population of anti-Castro Cuban exiles. Florida was also a key factor in the president's contested election victory in 2000.

Most significantly, Paterson said, was that the Bush administration was preoccupied with other issues, namely pursuing Iraq and the war on terror, and could not afford to be distracted by Havana.

"It doesn't want that on the diplomatic platter right now," he said.

Gary Prevost, a Cuba expert at St. John's University in Minnesota, pointed out that there has even been a gradual easing of the US embargo on Cuba over the past two years, brought about by mainly Republican representatives of Midwestern states seeking a new market for their farm products.

But Bush's vested interests have stood in the way, he said. "A Republican president without the baggage he has might move towards normalization more quickly."

Mark Rasenick, a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago's medical school, who often visits Cuba's biotechnology centers on scientific exchange missions, said: "There is no evidence" it is building biological weapons.

The Washington-based Center for International Policy characterized Bolton's allegations as "grossly misleading and unsubstantiated."

Carter's 1977-1981 administration worked toward normalization of US-Cuba relations, establishing interest sections in Washington and Havana to carry out consular matters and open channels of communication between the two countries, which severed full diplomatic relations in 1961.