Cuba elected
Vice President of Biological Weapons Convention
Review Conference
GENEVA, December 5.—Cuba was elected
vice president of the 7th Biological Weapons
Convention Review Conference, which opened today in
this city and continues through December 22. The
country has also been called upon to define the
position of the Non-Aligned Movement in this context.
Speaking in the general debate,
Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez emphasized the Non-Aligned
Movement’s strong support for the Biological Weapons
Convention and the urgent need to strengthen it in
order to ensure that these weapons are never used.
Benítez questioned why, after seven
years of negotiations and when a legally binding
protocol aimed at strengthening the Convention was
virtually concluded, the United States opposed its
adoption.
The diplomat also referred to the
importance for the developing countries of the
Convention regulations on international cooperation
for the peaceful use of agents, materials and
equipment in the biological and biotechnological
sector.
Lamentably, certain states maintain
restrictions and prohibitions preventing the free
transference of material and technologies, in
flagrant violation of the articles of the Biological
Weapons Convention. The blockade of Cuba maintained
for more than 50 years by the U.S. government is one
of the clearest examples of this violation. (Cubaminrex-UN
Permanent Mission in Geneva)
