The core of the biowarfare efforts of the Cuban government is the Center for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), located at 31 Avenue, between 158 and 190
streets, Cubanacan, La Habana. This institution is at the vanguard in the Hemisphere, second only to selected centers in the United States. Over 1,100 engineers, scientists, technicians
work at the Center.
It occupies a total area of over 62,000 square meters, with buildings occupying
approximately 44,000 square meters, including laboratories, offices and service areas. There
is a huge greenhouse of 1,700 square meters and 2.7 hectares of fertile soil. They also house
a theater for conferences and congresses, and rooms for seminars, libraries, gymnasium, etc.
The main production plant of bioagents covers 7,500 square meters, although the CIGB
shares production with the Biopreparations Center, or BIOCEN, located in Bejucal, at
Carretera Beltran km 1 ½, nearby the electronic espionage and interference base.
The CIGB is structured into several big sub directions: research, quality control, production,
engineering and services, teaching. The main oriented work lines are: pharmaceutical,
vaccine, immunology, clinical, preclinical, automation, chemistry/physics, mammal cell
genetics, plant molecular biology, cloning.
The CIGB has a CIGBnet which is the network for the Center. It provides computer
communications, database access, information services and data processing. It is operated
by the Network Services Group of the Automation Division of the CIGB. It provides
computer networking access to some 600 members.(out of the 1,100). LANs located in the
Center are linked together using both dialup UUCP technology and RENACYT, the national
academic X.25 network, operated by ICIMAF/CIDET.
Protocols running on the LAN side are IPX/SPX, giving access to both Netware based and
UNIX base services. PWGlue is an off line email management system of the Center, based
on the Pegasus Mail. Glue code to get those two shareware packages working together was
developed at the Center. Data batching and compression engines were also added. Data
compression engines are compatible with UNIX standard compress utility or GNU's
gzip.email for certain personnel in the Center follow as this: last name@ingen.cigb.edu.cu
The CIGB has a biotherium, barrier zones, white rooms, for research with sensitive and lethal
bio agents. The CIGB' modern and efficient technological equipment includes mass
spectrometers, infrared and ultraviolet electron and scanning microscopes, gamma counters,
DNA synthesizers. Also, and very important, downstream fermenters, drying and milling
machines, centrifuges, which can guarantee research and development of bioweapons, such
as bacteria and virus agents.
The process of weaponizing anthrax, for example, can be done at these facilities. A few
grains of the freeze-dried bacteria are kept in a stoppered vial. Then, a small amount of a
nutrient medium is put into the vial. A mother culture is created. With tiny pippetes, the
mixture is drawn out of the vial and a small amount is transferred into several slightly larger
bottles. The bottles are left to incubate in a thermostatic oven for two days. This process, up
to this point, is very similar to the one to make a vaccine.
A seed stock in a standard vial will swell to billions of microorganisms after 48 hours, but it
will take weeks of brewing to produce the quantities required for weaponization. Once the
culture emerges from the oven, it is siphoned off into large flasks. The flasks are taken into a
special room, where they are connected to air-bubbling machines, which turn the liquid into a
light froth. The bacteria then grow more efficiently.
Each new generation of bacteria is transferred into larger vessels, until is vacuum pressure
into fermenters. The substance is incubated for two days in the fermenters, until it reaches
maximum concentration. At this stage, the process is passed through a centrifuge to be
concentrated as much as thirty times further. However, we do not have a weapon yet. The
pathogen has to be mixed with special additives to stabilize it over a long period. Then, the
weapon is ready.
Smallpox virus can also be produced at the Center. Tissue cells are obtained from animals or
humans. The tissue is kept alive outside its natural habitat in cell lines and stored at very
precise temperature. Cells are obtained from the kidneys of green monkeys or from the lungs
of human embryos. A special combination of amino acids, vitamins, salts, and sera, distilled
with de-ionized water, is crucial for the process.
Many of the equipment needed for the production of bioagents are similar to the equipment
used in the dairy industry, liquor industry, and sugar mills. Therefore Cuba has the technology
and the facilities to produce its own specialized equipment.
China has developed a large biotechnological area in its Northeastern part of the country. It
is close to one of China's nuclear research centers. China has concentrated its efforts in the
development of viral diseases and toxins.
Since 1997 China has been working very closely with Cuba in the research and development
of bioweapons. China has provided Cuba, among other equipment, with two High
Performance Computers, needed in the specialized production of certain bioagents, as well
as to study weather patterns for a better delivery or attack with bioagents. Chinese military
scientists have now joined Cubans at the CIGB conducting joint ventures in the biowarfare
area.
