pedro martori

Iraq and Cuba - Fitting Pieces in the West Nile Virus Puzzle?

by Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D.

The latest news, as reported by UPI and carried in the NewsMax.com wires,
has not underestimated the seriousness of the infection caused by the West
Nile virus. Indeed, in Louisiana, which has already reported five deaths so
far, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who doubles as the head of the state's
tourism agency, announced on Aug. 6 that cans of insect repellent will be
made available free of charge at visitor centers located near the state's
borders.
And yet, so far only NewsMax.com, the Medical Sentinel of the Association of
American Physicians and Surgeons, the appendices in my book "Cuba in
Revolution: Escape From a Lost Paradise" (http://www.haciendapub.com), and a few
other sources have brought up the frightening possibility that these
outbreaks may be a direct result of a joint biological terrorism project
between Iraq and Cuba.

Two experts, Ken Alibek, author of "Biohazard" and former deputy head of the
Soviet biological warfare project, and Dr. Manuel Cereijo, professor at
Florida International University, believe that this indeed could be the
case.

Moreover, Prof. Cereijo reported last April (2002) that Iraq received the
West Nile virus in the late 1980s from the CDC, while Cuba received the St.
Louis encephalitis virus, which is very similar to the West Nile virus, for
medical research.

Incidentally, Iraq has also obtained lethal strains of anthrax from the
American Type Culture Collection in Rockville, Md., one of the world's
largest libraries of microorganisms. For $35 the Iraqis were also able to
obtain strains of tularemia and Venezuelan equine encephalitis, once
selected for biological weaponry at Fort Detrick, Md. By the early 1990s,
Iraq had transferred these virulent anthrax strains to Cuba for further
development.

Additionally, two Cuban scientists, Dr. Luis R. Hernandez, who defected in
London in 1995, and Carlos Wotzkow, an ornithologist living in exile in
Switzerland, have asserted that Castro created the Frente Biologico
(Biological Front) to wage biological warfare against the U.S.

Why? Because the Castro brothers, who have a visceral hatred for the United
States, blamed the U.S. for several outbreaks of dengue fever in the eastern
part of the island in the late 1980s and 1990s. That disease not only
imperiled the growing Cuban tourism industry but also personally embarrassed
Fidel Castro, who had previously claimed that mosquitoes had been eradicated
from the island!

Dr. Hernandez worked in the Frente Biologico and has asserted that "those
were laboratories to identify and produce viruses to be used in birds as
'hosts' for their dissemination." Wotzkow relates in his 1998 book,
"Natumaleza Cubana," that he lost his job at the Institute of Zoology in
Cuba when he objected to the work of developing viruses that could be
carried by migratory birds into the U.S.

It turns out that the strain of West Nile virus found in New York in 1999
and last year in Israel is the same strain. In 1999, Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein referred to "his final weapon, developed in laboratories outside
Iraq . Free of U.N. inspection, the laboratories to develop the SV1417
strain of the West Nile virus." The missing link of cooperation between Iraq
and Cuba is Dr. Rodrigo Alvares Cambria, a Cuban orthopedic surgeon who
operated on Saddam's son after he hurt his back in an accident.

When former U.S. president Jimmy Carter visited Cuba earlier this year, he
didn't include any biological weapons experts in his entourage to inspect
the Frente Biologico. He simply took Fidel Castro's word at face value that
Cuba did not possess such weapons of mass destruction. And yet, what better
place for Cuba and Iraq to conduct biological terrorism against the United
States than 90 miles from U.S. shores!

Before 1999, this viral infection was unknown in the Western Hemisphere.
Thus, I am citing several references below that may be of interest to the
reader given the fact that frightening new cases of West Nile virus are
emerging in other states in the nation. The references provide several
pieces to the puzzle of why we may be experiencing this new infestation.
Isn't it time for the supranational arm of the United Nations to send
impartial inspectors to communist Cuba?

References:

1. La. Boosts bid to fight West Nile. The Macon Telegraph, August 7, 2002.

2. Betancourt E. West Nile virus - Is Castro's bioterrorism threat being
ignored? Medical Sentinel 2001;6(4):121-122; and Blazquez, Agustin. Cuba,
Castro and bioterrorism. Medical Sentinel 2001;6(4):118-120.

3. Faria MA Jr. Cuba in Revolution < Escape >From a Lost Paradise. Macon,
GA, Hacienda Publishing, Inc., 2002, Appendix K, pp. 380-387 and Appendix L,
pp. 388-392.

4. West Nile virus: The first bioweapon. NewsMax.com, August 6, 2002; and
West Nile virus claims 5th life in Louisiana, NewsMax.com Wires, August 7,
2002.

Miguel A. Faria, Jr., M.D is Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Sentinel
(http://www.haciendapub.com) and author of "Vandals at the Gates of Medicine"
(1995); "Medical Warrior: Fighting Corporate Socialized Medicine" (1997);
and "Cuba in Revolution: Escape From a Lost Paradise" (2002). All three
books available fr

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