|
|
TERRORISM
Cuba as a
Threat to the US. II. The Bio-Chemical Threat
(Spcl 8.6, 3 Aug 99)
"Near the Teaching Military Hospital 'Luis Díaz Soto' (in Cuba)...there
are three huge warehouses of cadavers which are used to make...a culture
soup with water and putrified cadavers...for the production of (various
toxic substances)..."
Eduardo Prida, Scientific Investigator
Introduction
In 1992 the Cuban Institute of Oceanographic Studies conducted an
experiment to determine the best sites on the Cuban coast from which to
dispatch floating containers aimed at the US. The bottles used contained
notes requesting replies from those in the US who found them.
Incidentally, it was found that the north central coast of Cuba provided
the best launch site for biological weapons - terrorism's next wave -
attack using floating containers.
In a general way CW (chemical weapons) are poisons which act on contact
with the skin while BW (biological weapons) are bacteria or virus which
invade and multiply within the body in order to destroy it. In practice,
many weapons in these categories are bio-chemical, that is, weapons
having both chemical and biological effects. As Professor Cereijo points
out,42 there are at least 80 types of bacteria, viruses and fungi which
can be weaponized. Certain background relative to bacteria and viruses
has been considered in Spcl 8.4 above.
Cereijo mentions a number of these viruses -- among them Marburg, Ebola,
smallpox and anthrax - and the research and preparation centers capable
of producing them, among these the CIGB (Center for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology), the BIOCEN (National Bio-Preparation Center) in
Bejucal43 and the Finlay Institute which will be mentioned below.
Weaponizing Anthrax and Smallpox
Weaponizing anthrax bacteria consists in the creation of a culture with
bacteria and nutrient. This is then oven incubated to create a seed
stock which is multiplied in fermenters, then concentrated by centrifuge
and stabilized by additives.
Weaponizing smallpox viruses, because of the nature of the virus,
requires animal or human tissue cells in a nutrient medium necessary to
virus multiplication. For both virus and bacteria production there are
various Cuban facilities such as CIGB, BIOCEN and, once again, the
Finlay Institute.
One of the early bio-chemical weapons was:
T-2
T-2 is one of the tricothecene mycrotoxins44 which are produced by
various species of fungi and can occur on certain agricultural products.
Rio, Latraite and Parent-Massin45 have identified the compounds T-2
toxin, HT-2 toxin, diacetoxyscripenol (DAS) and dioxynivalenol (DON) as
the "most naturally encountered and potent tricothecenes." T-2 is
considered first.
Only the cardiovascular and dermatologic effects of this compound are to
be remarked. The cardiovascular effects are (1) angina (inability of
"diseased" (poisoned) arteries to deliver sufficient blood), (2)
tachycardia (heart rate greater than 100) and (3) hypotension (low blood
pressure). The dermatologic effects are contact induced skin and eye
coagulation necrosis (blood clots blocking blood flow (tissue death)
causing tissue ischemia (decreased supply of oxygenated blood to body
parts)).
Stahl, Green and Farnum46 usefully and concisely describe T-2 as one of
several "incapacitating, vesicant (blistering) and lethal chemical
warfare agents." As these authors point out, "The use of several
kinds...(of these agents to include T-2) in Southeast Asia, particularly
Kampuchea and Laos, has been reported since 1975." These toxic agents
were reported as having been used in Southeast Asia, particularly
Kampuchea (Cambodia) and Laos. As will be seen, reports of such chemical
warfare had also been coming out of Afghanistan. Air attacks, usually
using spray, spread yellow to yellow-brown liquid or semi-solid
particles in suspension. From the fact that these mixtures sometimes
sounded like rain on the thatched roofs, this chemical agent became
known as "yellow rain" or "medicine from the sky." This biochemical
weapon was also delivered by artillery shells.
Two earlier reports on this biochemical warfare by the IL (International
Left) had appeared in 1983. In one of these, Harruff,47 who had been a
volunteer physician at Ban Vinai camp in Thailand in 1980, reports his
evidence for the use of these biochemical weapons allegedly "outlawed"
by the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The Ban Vinai camp
was the principal refuge of the Laotian Hmong population, the target of
the MLs (Marxist Leninists) of the Pathet Lao and Vietnamese
governments.
Since 1976 there had been accounts by the Hmong of biochemical
operations against them. During his service in Ban Vinai Dr. Harruff's
experience with patients having unusual pulmonary problems convinced him
that the Hmong were right. These people claimed that their problems
began after exposure to biochemical weapons used against them in Laos by
the ML Vietnamese. And evidence being gathered by the US State
Department supported Harruff's conclusions.
In latter 1981 State reported, first, finding tricothecenes in foliage
samples from Laos and, second, the similarities of the effects produced
by these compounds to those reported by the victims of these biochemical
attacks. One sample, provided by the Hmong and analyzed at Rutgers
University, contained, not only tricothecenes but also polyethylene
glycol which could only have been of synthetic origin. The same toxins
were being found in blood and tissue samples from Laos and Kampuchea
and, most interestingly, on foliage and a captured Soviet gas mask from
Afghanistan. As the Soviet dictator, Khurshchev, had introduced the drug
weapon in his imperialist war (Wkly 8.6 above), so his successors had
introduced the use of biochemical agents in their continuation of it.
Delivery Vehicles
To that time under discussion by Harruff, the preferred delivery vehicle
for T-2 was an aerial spray device. In both Southeast Asia and
Afghanistan the agent was "a crude extract of a Fusaria48 fungal species
that has been grown under conditions favoring the production of high
levels of tricothecenes." The agent is delivered by spraying in a
volatile solvent. Such a solvent can also be delivered in contact
exploding artillery projectiles. Timed-exploding projectiles, for
example, are also possible but apparently not necessary. This resume of
Harruff's paper may appropriately be concluded with:
"In my experience, there are no skeptics among relief workers who have
been involved overseas with post-Vietnam War Asian refugee programs. The
level of cruelty witnessed there is so high that the inclusion of
biochemical weapons to the many forms of abuse comes as no surprise."
Prelude to Cuba
The remark on cruelty with which Dr. Harruff concludes his report could
equally well be applied to the satiating effects of ML cruelty in other
parts of the world, of greatest interest here, in Cuba. Dzugashvili (aka
Stalin) is alleged to have told Churchill that mass murders in the
millions take on the characteristics of a "statistic," a similar sort of
situation.
The LANS interest in biochemical cruelty in Southeast Asia and
Afghanistan is appropriate as background to Castroite biochemical
activities, particularly in indicating the chronological continuity
between T-2 activity in Asia and that in the Caribbean. Two more reports
will be touched upon before this treatment takes up the Cuban phase of
such activity, the first more or less contemporary with that of Dr.
Harruff, the second two years later.
On 19 November 1982, the US State Department held a press conference on
Soviet bio-chemical activities in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan at
which, inter alia, was dramatically revealed the T-2-polluted Soviet
gasmask from Afghanistan. The conference was described by Eliot Marshall
("A Cloudburst of Yellow Rain Reports," Journal of Veterinary and Human
Toxicology 25, 38(1983)) in a paper with an appropriate title. In
calling the conference, State presented a 12-page report setting out new
and old evidence from US intelligence agencies on ML gas attacks. The
report may be summarized with:
"The finding of T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin...in the blood, urine, and
tissue of victims of these attacks provides unequivocal evidence of
their use as weapons."
A brief summary of the already remarked paper by Stahl et al46 will
conclude this background discussion. On 13 February 1982 a KR (Khmer
Rouge) encampment at Toul Chrey49 was bombarded by Vietnamese forces.
The statement is made that "three artillery shells" (projectiles, no
further description) "exploded upwind of the camp." It is subsequently
stated that "the attack rate is unknown." Presumably, this means that
the detonation of three projectiles is known, although the interval
between detonations (rate) is not. The KR reported a "perfume-like" odor
and 100 casualties.
The investigators received various organs from one of the dead on 29 May
1982 in "good condition." T-2 was found in stomach, kidney, lung and
intestine; DAS in kidney; HT-2 in heart, stomach and intestine; and
Aflatoxin (see below) in all organs examined (not heart and lung).
The "paucity of information about the pathological effects" of
tricothecene mycotoxins prevents the researchers from declaring
positively that these unnatural levels of these toxins caused symptoms
and death. However, "the circumstances of injury" and the clinical
findings "are consistent with those of tricothecen toxicosis."
The Tuol Chrey gas attack occurred in early 1982. The date is of some
consequence here because of what was in progress at that time in Cuba.
Edward Prida
Before his defection from Cuba, Eduardo Prida was a scientific
investigator for the Scientific Investigations Bureau of the Cuban
Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR). His account of Castro Cuban
development of chemical-biological arms50 is invaluable, and it appears
to be precise. The account given by Prida meshes in well with the
accounts touched upon above of USSR bio-chemical operations in Asia,
both as to the toxic agents favored by these MLs and the times of their
development and utilization.51
T-2 Gas
Prida points out that the first experiments by the Castro dictatorship
with bacteriological agents were begun in 1978 and 1979 by its so-called
Biological Front. These early efforts were concerned with germs and
toxins from seaweed and shellfish and utilized as vectors52 drosophila
flies.53 Although the experience gained from these experiments has
probably proven to be generally useful, the focus of the bio-chemical
program was shifted to T-2 in the early 1980s. As has been discussed
above, this would correspond to the use of T-2 in Southeast Asia by the
Vietnamese allies of the USSR and in Afghanistan by the Soviets
themselves.
The Soviet and Cuban biochemical warfare people apparently had no doubt
as to the potential of this agent, for, by 1981, the first bio-chemical
arms fabrication plant had been constructed in Matanzas Province, Cuba,
and manned by Soviet technicians. T-2 was also soon being produced among
the hills and caverns in the mountainous zone of San Cristóbal near
Soroa (Pinar del Río Province). Prisoners with long sentences and
generally without families were utilized, these disappearing after the
construction was completed.
Later Developments
The account is reasonably straightforward with regard to T-2
development, this apparently continuing in Matanzas and Pinar del Río,
but somewhat more complex in other areas. In April of 1994 the first
factory specifically devoted to the production of biochemical arms was
constructed near the central Military Hospital. The second such factory
began to function in the Spring of 1995 near the Carlos J. Finlay
Hospital. According to Prida, the Castro regime utilized the patients
from these hospitals as guinea pigs in order to validate their
biological factory products, administering their developed viruses
without the knowledge of either patients or hospital personnel.
Cadaver Warehouses
In the introduction to this report the three cadaver warehouses near the
"Luis Díaz Soto" Military Teaching Hospital, Superior Institute of
Military Medicine, have been mentioned. The operation of these charnel
houses is "contemporary." The putrified cadavers are utilized in order
to make the tests of human tissue and a soup of water with biological
substances from the rotting corpses. These subterranean swimming pools
(piscinas) for putrified cadavers have as their purpose production of
biochemicals to be used as agents for the spread of Toxic Botulism,
Aflatoxin and Clostridium Perfringens or gas of Gaseous Gangrene.
Botulism per se is from botulus (sausage), although its contemporary use
is in the broader sense of growth of Clostridium (genus of bacteria)
Botulinum. Aflatoxin is that toxin produced by molds contaminating
ground nut seedlings, this producing various liver problems such as
liver necrosis, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic carcinoma
and so on. Clostridium Perfingens is the most common etiologic (disease
cause) of gas gangrene which, in turn, arises in dirty, lacerated wounds
in which muscles and subcutaneous tissues become filled with gas and
serosanguineous exudate (material escaped from blood vessels).
"With these compounds are developed infectious, contagious diseases
capable of rapid propagation and creation of panic in the Cuban
population for which the US would be blamed as they have been doing for
years. They would also attack the residents of Florida with them. This
is very easy and much less costly than conventional or nuclear arms,"
Prida told Remos.
Which is a considerably different story than Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond was given by a Clinton Government
report from a jumble of US intelligence agencies.54 Said this report,
"Cuba presently has the capability and experience to support a program
of bacteriological weapons at least in the research and development
stage..." This statement embodies the same sort of obfuscation of the
Cuban threat against the US that has been discussed in the first report
of this series (Wkly 8.6 above). The report presented to the US Congress
by Congressman Lincoln Díaz-Balart on 19 March 1998 is more realistic as
to Castroite Cuban capabilities:
"(4) Castro can deliver into US territory chemical and bacteriological
agents by conventional or non conventional means, with missiles
available in the international black market."
The Purpose
Prida attests to the Castroite slaughter of more than 10,000 Angolans
with VX and Sarin Gas, Sarin the gas used in the subway by the Japanese
New Dawn terrorists. Castro's bio-chemical weapons and delivery
capability are what the Cuban dictator considers his "containment" arms
against the US.
Return to Hot News
1 So-called because of the "multipole expansion" which is a convenient
method of dealing with emission and absorption spectra. The dipole is
followed in this series by the quadrupole, octopole, etc., hardly
necessary to this elementary treatment.
2 Here only the spectra arising from the vibrational and rotational
motions of the molecule are considered. The more esoteric
electronic-vibrational spectra are unnecessary to present concerns.
3 Gerhard Herzberg, MOLECULAR SPECTRA AND MOLECULAR STRUCTURE. II.
Infrared and Raman Spectra of Polyatomic Molecules (Van Nostrand, 1945).
4 The more complex electronic-vibrational structure need not be
considered here; for this see Gerhard Herzberg, MOLECULAR SPECTRA AND
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE. III. Electronic Spectra and Electronic Structure of
Polyatomic Molecules (Van Nostrand, 1966).
5 Cf. R. G. Breene, Jr., "The Normal Coordinates of
N-Dimethylaminodiborane," Journal of Chemical Physics 23, 97(1955).
6 Cf., Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Physics, Vol. 1, pp.149-150
(Pergamon, 1961).
7 In the alanine-glycine linkage, for example, the peptide will consist
of a CO from the alanine and a NH radical from the glycine.
8 "Ancient" man felt that he gained power over objects, animate and
inanimate, by naming them, a totemic form of behavior still perhaps most
notably present in medicine. To paraphrase Professor Higgins, the
attending physician may not have the vaguest idea what to do about an
ailment, but this is of little consequence compared to his ability to
pronounce it properly.
9 A "polymer" consists of repeating structural units - atomic groups -
as we already know.
10 Is this what happens or is this what appears to be happening? This is
of course merely an extrapolation of the question re the hydrogen atom:
Does the absolute square of the wave function (mathematical description)
for the H electron actually tell us the spatial distribution or is it
simply a conveniently correct mathematical description? This question
really only has meaning for the physicist who insists on
microscopic-macroscopic equivalence.
11 A metabolic process is one by which energy is provided for the vital
processes of an organism without a host cell.
12 F. H. C. Crick and J. D. Watson, Nature 177, 473(1956).
13 See also A. Isaacs, J. Lindenmann and R. C. Valentine, "Virus
Interference. II," Proc. Roy. Soc. 147B, 268(1957).
14 Frank J. Tipler, "Extraterrestrial Beings Do Not exist" (Quarterly
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 21, 267(1981)); "A Brief
History of the Extraterrestrial Intelligence Concept" (ibid 22,
33(1981)); "Additional Remarks on Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (ibid
22, 279(1981)).
15 J. von Neumann and A. W. Burks, Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata
(University of Illinois Press, 1966).
16 Light travels 186,000 mi/sec. During the course of a year, therefore,
light will travel 5.87 x1012 or 5.87 trillion miles.
17 From Special Relativity, the faster you go, the slower your clock
goes so you allegedly have lots of spare time. In practice, g-forces and
the difference between a light particle and a solid body render this
solution meaningless. Were the travelers moving, nevertheless, at 0.9c,
it would take them "only" 127 of their years for a short 500 light year
journey.
18 Those interested in the details should consult the classic treatment
of Marvin L. Goldberger and Kenneth M. Watson, COLLISION THEORY (Wiley,
1964. LCC: 64-17819).
19 For those wishing to delve more deeply into the subject the starting
point should be the work of John C. Slater, QUANTUM THEORY OF ATOMIC
STRUCTURE (Vol. I, McGraw-Hill, 1960. LCC: 60-6985; Vol. II, ibid).
20 In a series of volumes Moore has collected and analyzed an immense
amount of atomic spectra, the volume of interest to O being the first,
Charlotte E. Moore, ATOMIC ENERGY LEVELS as derived from analyses of
optical spectra (Vol. I, Hydrogen through Vanadium, National Bureau of
Standards, 1949).
21 Cf. John C. Slater, Quantum Theory of Molecules and Solids, Vol.I,
Electronic Structure of Molecules (McGraw-Hill, 1963. LCC: 62-17647).
22 This is indicated by the diffuse absorption bands the lower limits on
which exist more or less at the dissociation energy.
23 For details on these bands, cf. Gerhard Herzberg, MOLECULAR SPECTRA
and MOLECULAR STRUCTURE. III. Electronic Spectra and Electronic
Structure of Polyatomic Molecules (D. Van Nostrand, 1966).
24 Those wishing to while away an idle hour in "research," may proceed
to http://www.chemfinder.com/ and locate certain vital data on these
molecules such as the comments upon them as contained in the Texas Clean
Air Act (sic).
25 Gerhard Herzberg, MOLECULAR STRUCTURE AND MOLEC ULAR SPECTRA. II.
Infrared and Raman Spectra of Polyatomic Molecules (D. Van Nostrand,
1945).
26 R. G. Breene, Jr., J. Chem. Phys. 23, 97 (1955).
27 Mr. Kennedy's signals were mixed or garbled. In a book which came out
that same year (The Strategy of Peace, Harper and Row, 1960. LCC:
60-7530) he was describing Castro as "part of the legacy of Simón
Bolívar" while in his campaign against Nixon he was describing the
latter as "soft on Castro."
28 Most often blamed for the disastrous changes in the operational plan
was the US representative at the United Nations (UN), Adlai Stevenson.
This is the individual who had run for US president in 1956, an
important plank in his "platform" being the utterly untenable argument -
as Teller demonstrated - that the nuclear weapons tests would "knock the
earth off its axis."
29 This might have had to be slightly extended for B-26 operation, but
that such is easily and effectively accomplished with PSP (pierced-steel
plank) the LANS Editor can attest.
30 Many of the reasons advanced for gutting the operation had to do with
foreign reaction. If, however, this timidity had not been displayed, a
successful operation would have (a) silenced the bluster and (b)
prevented the so-called "Cuban Missile Crisis" of 1962 and Soviet
establishment of a base in Cuba.
31 Fulbright alone disapproved the plan on "moral" grounds." Apparently
Castro's slaughters after this operation were of a high "moral" nature.
32 The Khrushchev treatment by Edward Crankshaw (KHRUSHCHEV REMEMBERS,
Little Brown, 1970, Translated by Strobe Talbott. LCC: 70-144137)
includes photos of the lovable Castro-Khrushchev (CK) duo - Fidel is
joyfully entertaining Nikita's grandson in one photograph - although no
information on the CK drug smuggling activities is hinted.
33 Joseph D. Douglass, Jr., RED COCAINE: The Drugging of America and the
West (Edward Harle, 1999. ISBN: 1-899798-04-8). The first edition (1990)
of Douglass' book was effectively suppressed when it suddenly "lost" its
distribution. The Harle edition, containing much new material, is
available from Edward Harle Ltd., 108 Horseferry Road, Westminster,
London SW1P2EF, UK or Edward Herle Lts., Suite 1209, 280 Madison Ave.,
New York, NY 10016-0802, US.
34 A more extensive discussion of Sejna's muzzling has been presented in
Spcl 6.17 which will appear in Latin American Political Yearbook
1998-1999 (Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University, in press).
35 A wire service report of the involvement of US embassy personnel in
Colombia in narcotrafficking should surface ere long, but it now appears
that the most important parts of this story will probably be spiked.
36 These were MiG-21s, MiG-23MFs, MiG-23Bs and MiG-29s. The aircraft
used for the shoot-down of the unarmed Brothers to the Rescue aircraft
over international waters were a MiG-23MF and a MiG-29.
37 Manuel Cereijo, "CUBA: Possible Threat to the National Security of
the United States Through non-Conventional Military Methods" (Miami,
Florida, 1999).
38 As usual, LANS invites its readers to furnish any documented
information which they can on such blackmail efforts. The following
caveats should be repeated: Any such communications should be by surface
mail. No return address should appear inside or outside the envelope
which should be postmarked as far from the return address as practicable
39 See also, Jaime Suchlicki, "Those Men in Havana Are Now Chinese" (p.
8, Asian Wall Street Journal, 2 August 1999).
40 Nestor T. Carbonell (AND THE RUSSIANS STAYED: The Sovietization of
Cuba, Morrow, 1989. ISBN: 0-688-07213-5) has presented extensive detail,
gathered over the years, which demonstrated that, not only were the SS4s
and SS5s not removed, but also that they were later replaced by more
sophisticated delivery vehicles.
41 The Piles of Rusty Junk (PRJ) Argument: Intelligence sources (bogus
and authentic) have told LANS that: "Those missiles are just 'piles of
rusty junk.'" This bizarre "argument" amounts to confirmation of
non-removal, that the SS4s and SS5s would be PRJ now is an irrelevant
truism.
42 Manuel Cereijo, "CUBA: Possible Threat to the National Security of
the United States Through non-Conventional Military Methods" (Miami,
Florida, 1999).
43 In Bejucal the USSR/CIS is constructing an electronic espionage
center at Cuban request (Wkly 8.6).
44 Mycrotoxins are simply fungal poisons
45 B. Rio, S. Lautraite and D. Parent-Massin, "In vitro toxicity of
tricothecenes on human erythroblastic progenitors," Human and
Experimental Toxicology 16, 673 (1997).
46 C. J. Stahl, C. C. Green and J. B. Farnum, "The Incident at Toul
Chrey: Pathologic and Toxicologic Examinations of a Casualty After
Chemical Attack," Journal of Forensic Studies 30, 317(1985).
47 Richard C. Harruff, "Chemical-Biological Warfare in Asia," Journal of
the American Medical Association 250, 497 (1983).
48 Without considerable descriptive detail, extraneous here, this can
only be defined in a circular manner: A "fusarial species" relates to
any fungus of the genus Fusarium.
49 Tuol Chrey is 75 mi north of Phnom Penh and 175 mi south of the Thai
border.
50 Ariel Remos, "Bacteriological Arms Identify Castro with
Bio-Terrorism. I," Diario las Américas, 16 July1999; ibid II, 17 July
1999.
51 LANS expresses deep appreciation to Senior Circuit Librarian Mary Jo
Dwyer of the University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio) for
her assistance.
52 A "vector" is an agent capable of transmitting a pathogen (specific
cause of a disease) from one organism to another.
53 A drosophila is a small, two-winged fly of the genus Drosophila as is
the ever-popular fruit fly.
54 The title of the report is "The Cuban Threat to US National Security"
(sic) and was allegedly prepared jointly by the Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), State Department
Intelligence Bureau, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Southern
Command intelligence section.
(c) Copyright 2000 by LANS(r) Return to Hot News
LATIN AMERICAN NEWS SYNDICATE(r)
Box 781464
San Antonio, TX 78278
lans@txdirect.net
Chapter 7, Latin American Political Yearbook 1999
(Transactions Publishers, Rutgers University, in press)
The Cuban Threat to the United States
|
|
|
