Read the article:
Carlos Wotzkow, a leading Cuban ornithologist who defected in 1999, says that Castro's "Biological Front, which coordinates military and scientific research, was extended to the Institute of Zoology in 1991 to develop ways of spreading infectious diseases, including encephalitis and leptospirosis, through implantations in migratory birds."
Roberto Hernandez, another exiled Cuban scientist, says, "We were instructed to look into viruses such as encephalitis which are highly resistant to insecticides. Military-intelligence officers running the labs ordered us to trap birds with migratory routes to the United States with the idea of releasing contaminated flocks which would be bitten by mosquitoes which, in turn, infect humans."
Trust me. I'm an "exile".
When Castro took over, the wave of Cubans that came to the U.S. were not seeking the U.S. gravy train. They wanted to escape Castro's Communist repression, re-group, oust Castro and then resume their former lives back home in Cuba. Two of my uncles went straight back to Cuba and landed on the invasion beach at the Bay of Pigs. After that failed, one uncle volunteered for the U.S. Army and had two Vietnam combat tours as a Green Beret but his dream was always to oust Castro.
As years passed, the older generation still considered themselves "exiles". Life in the 1960's and 1970's was called "El Exilio".
The name stuck, especially with the news media.
I came from Cuba when I was six. I'm an American citizen and a retired U.S. Naval officer. Although I now live in the Pacific Northwest, "home" for my Cuban American generation is Miami. Not Cuba. Miami, Florida, U.S.A. I have absolutely no plans to ever go back and live in Cuba except maybe as a tourist if Castro falls. To me, Cuba is a foreign country......come to think of it, so is the Left Coast out here. I am an American of Cuban birth and heritage.
However, if I should ever make the national newspapers, I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that the national news media will describe me as a "Cuban exile". They will also most likely add their customary adjectives "hard-line, anti-Castro, right-wing and politically powerful".