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AGUSTIN BLAZQUEZ |
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West Nile Virus: Bioweapon or Divine
Punishment?
Carlos Wotzkow, Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D., Agustin Blazquez and Jaums
Sutton
Friday, Nov. 22, 2002
An Answer to Wayne Smith
The Center for International Policy has a very curious speaker in Wayne
Smith, Chief of Mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba,
appointed by Jimmy Carter. He proudly describes himself as a close
friend of Fidel Castro.
Less than two months into his presidency, on March 15, 1977, Carter
called for normalization of relations with Castro's Cuba. He opened the
U.S. Interests Section in Havana and put Wayne Smith in charge. (This
according to a declassified White House document as stated in the U.S.
Cuba Policy Report, Vol. 9, No. 5, p. 5.)
Turning his back on Castro's crimes and blatant human rights violations,
Smith began a relationship with Castro, palling around with him in his
Jeep. Since leaving his official post in 1982, he has become one of the
most vociferous defenders and apologists of Castro and his regime.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, Wayne Smith ran an unsuccessful
campaign to have Cuba removed from the State Department's list of
terrorist nations in spite of the evidence supporting its inclusion. (1)
His promotion and ardent defense of a country designated as terrorist –
the No. 1 enemy of the U.S. in the Americas – raises questions about
Smith's allegiance.
In his article of Sept. 25, 2002 (2) Mr. Smith responds to suggestions
that the West Nile virus (WNV) may have been purposely sent into the
U.S. by Castro's Cuba via migratory birds. Mr. Smith assures us that the
virus in the U.S. could not have come from Cuba because "this strain of
West Nile virus first appeared in New York."
The fact that it was first detected in New York doesn't mean that is
where it first existed in the U.S. It may well have already been present
along the migratory routes between Cuba and New York, or "enroute" [sic]
as Mr. Smith writes, but was undetected because virtually no one was
looking for it at that time.
Until it was detected the first time by an alert veterinarian in Queens,
N.Y., in 1999, there was no reason to expect to find it in the U.S.,
since it has been known to exist in other parts of the world since 1937,
but had never been found before in the Western Hemisphere.
Mr. Smith's scientist's story that it more likely arrived in New York by
way of "infected mosquitoes trapped in the cargo hold of planes coming
in from Israel" seems unlikely. Although it is true that the strain of
the virus of 1999 was also found in Israel, it is more likely that it
arrived from birds in our own backyard for reasons that will become
obvious in the next several paragraphs. Elsewhere we have established a
possible Cuba-Iraq bioterrorist link. (3)
Smith then states that long before reaching New York, birds deliberately
infected in Cuba would no longer be contagious or would be dead from the
disease. It is true that most infected birds with WNV, like humans,
survive, but while infected, they carry the virus up to four days in
their blood streams and are infectious during that time.
Mosquitoes are necessary vectors, WNV being in the family of arboviruses
(arthropod-borne disease), which are small, spherical, single-stranded
RNA viruses, akin to Western and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, St. Louis
Encephalitis, etc. Some of these diseases are more lethal than WNV, and
we know from Prof. Manuel Cereijo (4) that Cuba obtained the St. Louis
Encephalitis virus (which has up to a 20 percent mortality) from the CDC
in the 1980s!
Additionally, a common practice among migrating birds of the world is
that they travel in flocks, stopping to rest and feed together.
Mosquito-transferred diseases can easily spread from one member of the
flock to another.
Birds migrating from Cuba to the Florida Keys can easily make the trip
in a little over three hours. They may stay a day or more roosting and
eating together in the mangroves of the Keys or in the Everglades. The
disease is spread among them by the ubiquitous mosquitoes.
After three or four days, some of the diseased birds may die, but most
recover. Freshly infected birds carry the disease to the next resting
point, where transmission can take place once again. After a couple of
days, when ready to continue in their migration, the more newly infected
birds in the flock fly along their route on their northward migration
depending on their place of origin (reflected in their banding),
bringing with them the WNV infestation as they go.
This process continues for the (roughly) two-week trip to New York. If
that is the first place WNV tests were done, then that is the first
place it would have been detected in the U.S.
Additional scientific details of bird migration provided by an
ornithologist colleague of mine (Wotzkow) who previously worked in
association with the Smithsonian Institution, adds additional
credibility to the feasibility of the process. He refers to the comments
made by the Smithsonian advisers mentioned by Smith as "a typical case
of misrepresentation." (He requested that his name not be used due to
the partisan, political aspects present in scientific arena.) He
continues:
Radar has .. .allowed us to examine the speed at which migrants travel.
Small songbirds have airspeeds of about 34-40 kmh [approximately 21-25
mph], larger songbirds about 50 kmh [31 mph] and more shorebirds and
ducks 64-80 kmh [40-50 mph]. Tens of thousands of birds of about 60
species cross the 240 km [150 miles] from Florida to Cuba where many
elect to remain for the winter months. The total distances flown by
individual birds during the journey between their breeding and
non-breeding areas can be spectacular. Hudsonians godwits (Limose
haemastica) migrate from Canada to the southern coasts of South America,
a distance of 4500 km [2,800 miles] in about three days!
An individual of another shorebird, the lesser yellowlegs (Tringa
flayipes), that was banded at Cape Cod, Massachusetts on 38 August,
1935, was killed 3045 km [1,900 miles] away in Martinique, West Indies 6
days later! It had traveled an average daily distance of more than 506
km [314 miles]! What is even more impressive is the ability of
individual long-distance migrants to precisely return to the same
nesting areas, and in some cases also wintering sites and migration
staging areas year after year.
There is evidence that birds are born with a built-in universal map with
coordinates of breeding and wintering grounds. We now know that birds
use a variety of compasses to navigate, including magnetic, sun, stars
and moon.
He concludes his comments to me, "It is regrettable that some scientists
at the Smithsonian give a misleading picture to less informed readers."
The Smithsonian seems to have a special connection to the bird research
and other projects going on in Cuba. Their cooperation continued
unabated after the 1959 Revolution. Smithsonian scientists have even
been known to buy Jeeps as "private" donations for Cuban institutions.
Random testing of dead birds has been going on for years, but the fact
is the CDC and the public are now more aware of the disease, so that
dead birds are more likely to be reported, collected and tested –
precisely because WNV was found in that raven at the New York zoo three
years ago.
Bird migration is a complex process but it was developed and is
maintained by Mother Nature. Castro often publicly boasts of Cuba's
biotechnology industry. Indeed, her scientists have had decades to study
and learn to pervert Mother Nature's process. I (Wotzkow) witnessed
Cuban researchers from the appropriate disciplines investigating the
details for the two-year period I worked there, and I know it continued
after I was fired, enabling the research leaders to work out the fine
points.
When scientists who were asked to work on specific isolated segments of
the process got wind of the immoral nature of the overall goal and
refused to continue their work on moral grounds, a special law (501) was
conceived by Wilfredo Torres (former president of the Cuban Academy of
Science) to enable declaring them enemies of the state and they were (as
they still often are) replaced with military workers.
Smith's next point refers to the risks for Cuba itself from such a plan.
It "would amount to shooting one's self in the foot – knowingly." A
series of books could be written about Castro shooting Cuba in her foot.
He proudly took a highly prosperous country with a vast middle class
majority and converted it into a country with a vast lower class
majority. Yes, he is very proud of his "accomplishment." The illness or
death from WNV of a few members of the lower class he created does not
amount to shooting a foot. In his view, it isn't even cutting a toenail
a little too short.
It should also be pointed out, nevertheless, that as the mosquito
population in the U.S. dies down in late fall, so does the WNV
infestation in the bird and human populations. Birds die or immunity is
established so that few infected birds are likely to return to Cuba.
Mr. Smith proudly quotes a senior scientist of the Smithsonian who
easily sweeps away all of this by saying it "just feeds into the fears
of the public. It sounds like something to use just to attack Castro ...
it's important to get scientific credibility into the mix." But Mr.
Smith offers no science from the scientist. Just political statements.
He also does not refute that the Smithsonian has been happily providing
bird migration research information and monetary support to Cuba without
even looking into the possibility that it could be used for detrimental
purposes.
Smithsonian cooperation is just one of the components present that gives
Cuba all the capabilities it needs to carry out what we are suggesting.
No, we do not have actual proof – Castro is very careful to make sure
that only those he can trust implicitly have that information. The rest
have, by careful design, first-hand knowledge only of a specific part,
but he understands very well the grand design and the consequences of
the world's obtaining knowledge of what he is up to.
Attempting to refute "defecting scientists," Smith mentions Luis Roberto
Hernandez's letter of Sept. 17, 2002, to LaNuevaCuba.com. Yet, although
Hernandez did make some corrections, he did not deny the existence of
the Frente Biologico (Biologic Front, Cuba's biowarfare research labs)
or capabilities for bioterrorism, only that he refused to work in the
facility and thus has no first-hand knowledge, all the more reason
Smith's refusal to support an investigation of Cuba's biotechnological
facilities by independent parties is unconscionable.
When you live as an ordinary citizen inside a totalitarian country like
Cuba and suffer the crushing power of the system and especially Castro
himself, you develop a unique knowledge. First-hand experience teaches
more about a communist system than thousands of books on Marxist theory.
The depth of our knowledge of the life of the common man there far
exceeds that of someone who lived there for a few years in the capacity
of a personal friend of the ruler.
When Cubans first went into exile in 1959 and 1960, they warned that
Castro was building a communist regime in Cuba, but nobody listened. In
1961 Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and the Cuban exiles
were proven right. From 1961 on, they warned that the Soviet Union was
placing nuclear weapons in Cuba, but nobody listened. In October 1962,
the U.S. was able to photograph them and a crisis began that put the
world on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. The exiles were right again.
The exiles continued warning that Castro was dangerous and capable of
anything. They were proven right again when years later it was found
that during the 1962 Missile Crisis, he wrote to Soviet Prime Minister
Khrushchev on Oct. 26, 1962, asking for a pre-emptive nuclear strike
against the U.S.
For over a decade Cuban exile scientists, former intelligence agents and
even the Soviet Union's highest-ranking military spy ever to defect,
Col. Stanislav Lunev, have been talking about Castro's bioterrorist
facilities and capabilities, but nobody listened.
Smith contradicts himself in his handling of his first two paragraphs
regarding the position of the U.S. State Department on Cuba's potential
for bioterrorism. But once Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and
International Security John R. Bolton mentioned Cuba's involvement with
biological weapons on May 6, 2002, the Cuban exiles were proven to be
right once again.
On June 5, 2002, Carl Ford Jr., Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and
Research, testified before a Senate Subcommittee on the Western
Hemisphere that the "nature of biological weapons makes it difficult to
procure clear, incontrovertible proof that a country is engaged in
illicit biological weapons research, production, weaponization and
stockpiling" and that "Cuba's sophisticated denial and deception
practices make our task even more difficult." [See reference 1.]
I (Wotzkow) am not blindly accusing Cuba of sending the WNV to the U.S.
What I am saying is that based on my first-hand experience working at
the Zoology Institute (from December 1979 until I was fired in March of
1982 for refusing to continue working on Castro's pet project about
migratory birds), as well as that of my colleagues at the Frente
Biologico and my observations inside Cuba until my defection in 1992 to
Switzerland, everything points in that direction.
It is puzzling that while everybody was interested in knowing where the
AIDS virus in the U.S. came from (it was found to have originated in
Africa and to have been brought to the U.S. by a French-Canadian airline
steward named Gaetan Dugas), there seems to be little interest in the
U.S. source of WNV. Especially since it hadn't appeared before in our
hemisphere.
Wayne Smith says in his article that the few American citizens affected
by WNV means "West Nile virus is by no means an 'ultimate weapon' as
suggested by some exiles." But if people may be dying of a purposely
launched disease from a terrorist-designated nation, that is a matter of
serious concern.
And again, we are not saying that we have proved "conclusively" that
Castro has launched a biological warfare attack against the United
States, but that there is enough evidence for the U.S. to be suspicious,
and that we have enough reasons to ask for a U.N. inspection of the
island by knowledgeable, independent scientists.
Cuba is just 90 miles south and a resting station for millions of
migrating birds. According to the CDC, the current figures are 3,701
people in the U.S. infected and 212 dead. The disease is now fortunately
dwindling with this fall's cold weather.
It is time that we at least accept the possibility and investigate what
is behind Castro's inordinate interest in migrating birds. Is the
introduction of WNV by way of migratory birds just the beginning of
worse things to come?
* * * * * *
Carlos Wotzkow is an Ornithologist who has written dozens of papers in
scientific publications in Europe and the U.S. He is a Veterinary
Technician and a Consultant in human behavior, alcohol, ethic and
deontology, Author of the books "Natumaleza Cubana" (1998) and "Covering
and Discovering" (2001) with Agustin Blazquez, and hundreds of articles
on the destruction of the environment, politics and human rights in
Cuba. His articles are distributed monthly in magazines and via the
Internet. He has lived in exile in Switzerland since 1992, in Bienne
since 1994.
Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D., Editor-in-Chief, Medical Sentinel of the
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), Author, "Vandals
at the Gates of Medicine: Historic Perspectives on the Battle Over
Health Care Reform" (1995); "Medical Warrior: Fighting Corporate
Socialized Medicine" (1997); and "Cuba in Revolution: Escape From a Lost
Paradise" (2002), Macon, Ga., Hacienda Publishing, Inc., Clinical
Professor of Surgery (Neurosurgery, ret.) and Adjunct Professor of
Medical History (ret.), Mercer University School of Medicine.
Dr. Faria trained and practiced private and academic neurosurgery for 16
years and in addition to editing and publishing in medical journalism,
he is also a contributor to NewsMax.com and a columnist for
LaNuevaCuba.com. Web site: www.haciendapub.com
Agustin Blazquez is an artist, writer, author and a documentalist
specializing in Cuban issues. His over 200 articles about Cuba have been
published and circulated all over the world in various newspapers,
books, magazines and Internet periodicals. He has been featured on radio
and television talk shows. He wrote with Carlos Wotzkow the book
"Covering and Discovering" (2001). He recently wrote the introduction
and collaborated with author Luis Grave de Peralta in the translation to
English of the upcoming book "The Mafia of Havana: The Cuban Cosa
Nostra."
He has produced and directed more than 35 video productions, mostly
artistic and musical. His better-known documentaries are "Covering Cuba"
(1995), "Cuba: The Pearl of the Antilles" (1999) and "Covering Cuba 2:
The New Generation" (2000). He just completed the documentary "Covering
Cuba 3: Elian" (2002), to be released soon.
Jaums Sutton is an editor and collaborator of articles and books with
various authors. He is a researcher and technical adviser of computer
video production as well as an interviewer and assistant director of
documentary productions.
References/Notes
1. Galliano RJ. State Department Reaffirms Cuba's Biological Weapons
Research and Development Effort. U.S. Cuba Policy Report 2002;9(6):4.
2. Smith W, Landau A. CIP Refutes West Nile-Cuban Migratory Birds
Conspiracy Theory. Center for International Policy, September 25, 2002.
3. Blazquez A. Cuba, Castro and Bioterrorism, Medical Sentinel
2001;6(4):118-120, www.haciendapub.com. See also Agustin Blazquez with
the collaboration of Jaums Sutton in (Appendix K) Faria MA Jr., Cuba in
Revolution: Escape From a Lost Paradise, Macon, Ga., Hacienda
Publishing, Inc., 2002, pp. 380-387.
4. Cereijo M. The West Nile Virus: Nature or Bioterrorism. April 2002,
www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oagmc177.html.
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