U.S. commander of Latin forces questions weapons accusation

  BY CAROL ROSENBERG

  The commander of U.S. military forces for Latin America and the Caribbean said Thursday that he has seen no evidence that Cuba is producing biological
  weapons from its biomedical research program.

  ''The Cubans do have a very active R&D [research-and-development] program,'' said Army Maj. Gen. Gary Speer. ``They pride themselves on their
  biomedical advances and it kind of fits into the purpose for which that is used.''

  But he said he first learned from news reports about an allegation by a senior U.S. diplomat responsible for arms proliferation and terror issues that
  linked the research-and-development project to biological weapons. So he rang up the Intelligence Directorate at the Doral-based Southern Command to
  check.

  'I called my J-2, the intelligence officer, and said, `What's the deal?' ''

  Speer also said he didn't know why John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, chose to raise the issue in a
  speech at the Heritage Foundation on May 6 -- days before former President Jimmy Carter's five-day trip to Havana. The general said he was ``surprised
  he raised the subject.''

  What Bolton said was this: ``The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.''

  CUBAN DENIAL

  Fidel Castro and government spokesmen in Cuba flatly deny the allegation.

  Speer said, based on his understanding of the issue, ''it's kind of all the same science,'' which would be used in both medical research and weapons
  processing.

  ``I think what Mr. Bolton said in his statement, it kind of got reported as an accusation that the Cubans were . . . that we had evidence that they were
  actually producing bio-weapons. And I'm not sure that's the case.''

  The question of Cuba's current bioterror capacity touched off a firestorm in Washington and Cuba-watching circles.

  Carter said during his trip to Cuba that U.S. officials had told him before his visit there was no evidence linking Cuba to the export of biological weaponry.

  And Secretary of State Colin Powell likewise sought to clarify Bolton's comments, saying Cuba ''has the capacity and capability to conduct such research,''
  rather than actually possessing offensive bioterror weapons.

  PIRACY

  Speer made his remarks in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with Herald reporters and editors that covered several strategic issues across
  the region. He also said:

  • U.S. intelligence believes that profits from illegal CD sales and long-distance telephone piracy in South America are supporting Middle East groups linked
  to international terror, notably the Hamas, Hezbollah and Gamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, whose followers have been tied to Osama bin Laden's al
  Qaeda network. Such fraud is big business in the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay where smuggling and corruption are endemic, he said.

  No one can quantify how much money is diverted to the Middle Eastern groups but the U.S. is aware of a pattern that goes to so-called charitable
  organizations which, Speer said, have a terror component.

  COLOMBIA

  • Colombia's FARC insurgent movement has increased some activities and received a measure of support across the border in neighboring Venezuela
  since the election of President Hugo Chávez. However, he said, there has been no evidence that the Chávez government actively supports the
  insurgents.

  • He expects the Southern Command to continue to be responsible for military operations at the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay even after the
  Pentagon creates a Northern Command, whose territory includes Cuba. The line, he said, is more of a technical area of responsibility for a Pentagon
  component being created to protect the U.S. borders and territory from terror attack. But, he said, if there were future military-to-military contacts with
  the government of Cuba, he predicted that Southcom would have oversight.

  Southern Command is principally responsible for U.S. military activities -- training courses, drug interdiction missions and other support -- under President
  Andrés Pastrana's Plan Colombia.

  And Speer said the line is increasingly blurred between the FARC's insurgent activity and the drug smuggling operations that the U.S. military is trying to
  disrupt.

  Under tough guidelines for what the U.S. military may do in Colombia, Congress has declared that funds and operations can only be aimed at cocaine and
  other drug operations and that U.S. forces must not meddle in the civil war.

  But, Speer said, ``I'm to the point where I can't tell the difference between the FARC as a

  drug trafficker, the FARC as a terrorist and the FARC as an insurgent.''

  Yet the fine line means that U.S. military trainers can only work with a specific anti-drug unit of the Colombian military while leaving all other units on their
  own to grapple with the larger issue of providing security in the cities and countryside.

  Speer, a two-star general, has for 10 months been in charge of all U.S. military operations in the region. President Bush has chosen Army Lt. Gen. James
  T. Hill, now commander of an Ft. Lewis in Washington state, to receive a fourth star and become the new Southcom chief, replacing Marine Gen. Peter
  Pace who is now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.