*** Michael Powers, an analyst at the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute in Washington, said weapons experts usually have included Cuba on lists of countries with germ-warfare capability. But "it was never clear that they were using their biomedical infrastructure to produce agents or to try to turn them into weapons," Powers said. There is disagreement on how much proof exists that Cuba is developing a dangerous germ-weapons capability. Stephen Johnson, a specialist on Latin American affairs at Heritage Foundation, said some Cuban emigrants have pointed to dangers. He said Jose de la Fuenta, an emigre scientist who formerly worked at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana, has reported that Cuba sold Iran technology to produce the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. The equipment could also be used to produce germ-warfare agents, he said. Johnson said U.S. officials' suspicions have been aroused by the fact that Cuba has spent millions on sophisticated biomedical gear, even though it often has shortages of basic medical products. Some analysts scoffed at the suggestion Cuba is trying to develop such weapons.
Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington research center on Latin American affairs, said there has been scant evidence that Cuba was developing such a program. "This is just nuts," he said. "If [Bolton] has any evidence . . . he ought to make it public. Otherwise it's just a smear tactic." Julia E. Sweig, deputy director for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based research center, speculated that the U.S. government had debriefed many Cuban exiles in search of information on the program but had come up with little. She said the remarks suggest the Bush administration, under pressure from anti-Castro Cuban Americans to support for their cause, is looking for a way to make its Cuba policy more distinctive from the Clinton administration's.***