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Center for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology
( GIGB) - Havana
CUBA’s CORE FOR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE: CIGB
MANUEL CEREIJO
The core of the biowarfare efforts of the Cuban government is the Center
for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology ( GIGB), located at 31 Avenue,
between 158 and 190 streets, Cubanacan, La Habana. This institution is
at the vanguard in the Hemisphere, second only to selected centers in
the United States. Over 1,100 engineers, scientists, technicians work at
the Center.
It occupies a total area of over 62,000 square meters, with buildings
occupying approximately 44,000 square meters, including laboratories,
offices and service areas. There is a huge greenhouse of 1,700 square
meters and 2.7 hectares of fertile soil. They also house a theater for
conferences and congresses, and rooms for seminars, libraries,
gymnasium, etc.
The main production plant of bioagents covers 7,500 square meters,
although the CIGB shares production with the Biopreparations Center, or
BIOCEN, located in Bejucal, at Carretera Beltran km 1 ½, nearby the
electronic espionage and interference base.
The CIGB is structured into several big sub directions: research,
quality control, production, engineering and services, teaching. The
main oriented work lines are: pharmaceutical, vaccine, immunology,
clinical, preclinical, automation, chemistry/physics, mammal cell
genetics, plant molecular biology, cloning.
The CIGB has a CIGBnet which is the network for the Center. It provides
computer communications, database access, information services and data
processing. It is operated by the Network Services Group of the
Automation Division of the CIGB. It provides computer networking access
to some 600 members.(out of the 1,100). LANs located in the Center are
linked together using both dialup UUCP technology and RENACYT, the
national academic X.25 network, operated by ICIMAF/CIDET.
Protocols running on the LAN side are IPX/SPX, giving access to both
Netware based and UNIX base services. PWGlue is an off line email
management system of the Center, based on the Pegasus Mail. Glue code to
get those two shareware packages working together was developed at the
Center. Data batching and compression engines were also added. Data
compression engines are compatible with UNIX standard compress utility
or GNU’s gzip.email for certain personnel in the Center follow as this:
last name@ingen.cigb.edu.cu
The CIGB has a biotherium, barrier zones, white rooms, for research with
sensitive and lethal bio agents. The CIGB’ modern and efficient
technological equipment includes mass spectrometers, infrared and
ultraviolet electron and scanning microscopes, gamma counters, DNA
synthesizers. Also, and very important, downstream fermenters, drying
and milling machines, centrifuges, which can guarantee research and
development of bioweapons, such as bacteria and virus agents.
The process of weaponizing anthrax, for example, can be done at these
facilities. A few grains of the freeze-dried bacteria are kept in a
stoppered vial. Then, a small amount of a nutrient medium is put into
the vial. A mother culture is created. With tiny pippetes, the mixture
is drawn out of the vial and a small amount is transferred into several
slightly larger bottles. The bottles are left to incubate in a
thermostatic oven for two days. This process, up to this point, is very
similar to the one to make a vaccine.
A seed stock in a standard vial will swell to billions of microorganisms
after 48 hours, but it will take weeks of brewing to produce the
quantities required for weaponization. Once the culture emerges from the
oven, it is siphoned off into large flasks. The flasks are taken into a
special room, where they are connected to air-bubbling machines, which
turn the liquid into a light froth. The bacteria then grow more
efficiently.
Each new generation of bacteria is transferred into larger vessels,
until is vacuum pressure into fermenters. The substance is incubated for
two days in the fermenters, until it reaches maximum concentration. At
this stage, the process is passed through a centrifuge to be
concentrated as much as thirty times further. However, we do not have a
weapon yet. The pathogen has to be mixed with special additives to
stabilize it over a long period. Then, the weapon is ready.
Smallpox virus can also be produced at the Center. Tissue cells are
obtained from animals or humans. The tissue is kept alive outside its
natural habitat in cell lines and stored at very precise temperature.
Cells are obtained from the kidneys of green monkeys or from the lungs
of human embryos. A special combination of amino acids, vitamins, salts,
and sera, distilled with de-ionized water, is crucial for the process.
Many of the equipment needed for the production of bioagents are similar
to the equipment used in the dairy industry, liquor industry, and sugar
mills. Therefore Cuba has the technology and the facilities to produce
its own specialized equipment.
China has developed a large biotechnological area in its Northeastern
part of the country. It is close to one of China’s nuclear research
centers. China has concentrated its efforts in the development of viral
diseases and toxins.
Since 1997 China has been working very closely with Cuba in the research
and development of bioweapons. China has provided Cuba, among other
equipment, with two High Performance Computers, needed in the
specialized production of certain bioagents, as well as to study weather
patterns for a better delivery or attack with bioagents. Chinese
military scientists have now joined Cubans at the CIGB conducting joint
ventures in the biowarfare area. |
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INFOCUBA
