HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS WANT TO STOP SOVIET RAT POISON COMING FROM CUBA

By George Holcomb

MIAMI - The International Committee for Human Rights in Cuba and the New York Artists for Democracy in Cuba Project joined in a call to try to stop the pro-Fidel Castro group, The Pastors for Peace, from bringing an unlicensed rat poison across the Mexican border from Cuba July 12. They say the move is apparently a publicity stunt on the part of the pro-Castro group.

Lucius Walker of The Pastors for Peace is returning from delivering many tons of U.S. goods illegally to Cuba to help the regime of dictator Fidel Castro. The poison is called “biorat” and reportedly kills the rodents with salmonella. It apparently was first used in the Soviet Union as early as the 1920’s, according to a Canadian, Dr. David Allen, interviewed on an NPR radio broadcast.

The U.S. human rights groups issued a statement on the matter: “Why buy an unlicensed, untested poison made in of all places, Castro's Cuba, when there are way better products to kill vermin out in the free world markets? Besides, revolutionary Cuba has never been able to rid herself of the massive rat epidemic that still exists on the island. Basically the Castro dictatorship has ignored basic hygiene and sanitation standards on the island, making Cuba one of the most polluted and bio-unfriendly places in the Caribbean. Reports from visitors to Cuba as well as recent arrivals from the island state that in Cuba there is definitely a problem with the rat population.”

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