Carter counters US claim of Cuban bioterrorism
Jimmy Carter, the former US president, toured Cuba's controversial biomedical laboratories outside Havana yesterday and countered recent Bush administration claims that Cuba was transferring technology to rogue states who could use it to wage germ warfare.
On the second day of his historic trip – the first post- revolutionary visit to Cuba by any American head of state, in or out of office – Fidel Castro opened up the country's top laboratory for inspection.
Mr Carter told assembled scientists that Washington had no evidence for referring to Cuba as part of an "axis of evil", which had provided Libya and Iran with bio-terrorist expertise.
"There were absolutely no allegations made or questions raised [by US intelligence]. I asked them specifically on more than one occasion if there was 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'," he said bluntly. "These allegations were made, maybe not coincidentally, just before our visit to Cuba."
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