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Updated August 2008
Biological Chronology
2008
Except for general knowledge items, this annotated chronology is based on the data provided by the source identified for each entry. Public sources often provide conflicting information on classified military programs. In some cases we are unable to resolve these discrepancies, in others we have deliberately refrained from doing so to highlight the potential influence of false or misleading information as it appeared at the time. In many cases, we are unable to independently verify claims. Hence in reviewing this chronology, readers should take into account the credibility of the sources employed here.
Inclusion in this chronology does not necessarily indicate that a particular development is of direct or indirect proliferation significance. Thus, some entries provide international or domestic context for technological development and national policymaking, while others report on happenings that may have indirect effects on proliferation or nonproliferation.
February 2008
Fidel Castro announces that he will not accept another term as president; shortly thereafter Raul Castro is elected President of Cuba on 24 February 2008.
March 2008
A report on Cuba’s foreign debts reveals that on a per capita basis, Cuba is one of the most indebted nations in the world. Its convertible foreign debt in 2007 was $23.8 billion, with the major creditors being Venezuela, Spain, and Japan. At the same time, its non-convertible debt was $22 billion, with the major creditor being Russia. The latter debt is not being serviced.
— Cuba Transition Project, Cuba’s Mortgaged Future: Castro Regime Foreign Debt, 2007, March 2008, <http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu>.
March 2008
Cuba opens its first embassy in New Zealand. Cuban ambassador Jose Robaina Garcia states that he wishes to promote biotechnology, medicine, and tourism to New Zealanders. The main benefit to New Zealand is that due to the U.S. embargo, its companies have a competitive advantage in Cuba because they have no competition from American companies.
— Diana Burns, “Cuba: Beyond rum and cigars,” bright, March/April 2008, <http://www.nzte.govt.nz/common/files/br27-p20-23.pdf>.
June 2008
Cuba announced that it “has approved what is believed to be the world’s first registered lung cancer vaccine and is offering it to Cubans and foreign patients in its hospitals… It has been shown to boost survival rates by an average of four to five months, and in some cases much longer.”
— Rory Carroll, “Cuba approves first therapeutic vaccine for lung cancer.” The Guardian (London), 26 June 2008, p. 19.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008
by MIIS.
