Carter Trip to Cuba Sabotaged by Bush Administration Charges Against Castro over "Bioweapons Program"

Interview by Between the Lines' Denise Manzari

Not since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 has a sitting or former U.S. president visited the island of Cuba.

However, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, with a personal invitation from Cuban President Fidel Castro, has made a five-day visit to the island nation. As part of his stay, Carter held several meetings with Castro, dissidents and addressed the Cuban people across the island in Spanish that was broadcast live on both radio and TV. The former American president focused on the history of U.S.-Cuba relations, human rights and the efforts to normalize relations between the two governments.

On May 6, just days before Carter's visit, the Bush administration launched an anti-Cuba campaign, when Undersecretary of State John Bolton made a number of unsubstantiated allegations accusing Cuba of developing and maintaining a sophisticated offensive biological weapons industry and of providing related technical information to "enemy governments."

Wayne Smith is the former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana under the Carter administration and is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. He spoke with Denise Manzari about Carter's historic visit to Cuba and the Bush administration's hardline policy toward Castro(A RealAudio Version of this interview may be found at www.btlonline.org).

Contact the Center for International Policy at (202) 232-3317 or visit their Web site at www.ciponline.org
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