The available evidence does not support any of the insinuations of the propaganda portal ‘Cubaingencia’.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban official media Cubainformation posted this friday a column which suggests that the current chikungunya outbreak in Cuba responds to a “suspicious coincidence” intended to affect tourism, and links this hypothesis with a health alert from the United States and with old accusations of “biological warfare.”
However, the available evidence does not support these insinuations.
In the article, signed by Arthur González, one of the most frequent collaborators of Cubainformationthe question arises: “Will the appearance of this outbreak in that province be a causality, which may affect the greater inflow of foreign currency to the country at times of the economic crisis that Cuba is going through?”, after locating the beginning of the outbreak in Matanzasprovince where Varadero is.
The CDC issued on September 26 a travel alert due to a chikungunya outbreak on the Island. Four days later, the US Embassy in Havana issued a health notice referring to this technical criterion. What it doesn’t say Cubainformation is that these communications are part of the usual CDC and embassy advisories for multiple countries with active outbreaks; They are not exclusive to Cuba nor do they constitute, by themselves, an action “to scare away tourists.”
The CDC itself maintains lists of countries with chikungunya outbreaks in 2025 —Banglades, China (Guangdong), Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, Sri Lanka, among others—subject to similar notices, which refutes the idea of a singular accusation against the Island.
In addition, the US Embassy in Havana also usually issues alerts for different reasons, not only health reasons. Also in September, the diplomatic headquarters launched a “nationwide security alert” given the increase in thefts of US travel documents in Cuba, including permanent resident cards (green cards)and reports of extortion to recover them.
However, CubaInformation He insists and asks himself “why is he alert when the number of American visitors is minimal?” Although tourism from the US to Cuba is prohibited by law, travel under 12 categories (family visits, journalistic activities, “support for the Cuban people”, professional research, religious, etc.) is allowed, and the Embassy is obliged to inform its nationals present or traveling under those licenses. This is how the regulation establishes them and the official guides of the Treasury Department and of own State Department.
But González – whoever he is – is not enough and connects the current outbreak of chikungunya with the dengue hemorrhagic fever epidemic of 1981 and suggests an artificial origin “in Yankee laboratories.” It also recovers a 1984 statement from Eduardo Arocena to hint at a historical pattern of “biological warfare.” “I belong to a group whose mission was to obtain certain pathogenic germs and introduce them into Cuba,” the column quotes.
Nevertheless, scientific literature describes that epidemic as caused by dengue serotype two (DEN-2), in a context of high vulnerability after the circulation of serotype one (DEN-1), and analyzes virulence factors and epidemiological conditions, without obtaining or alluding to evidence of deliberate introduction.
In the political field, US Senate hearings in 2002 They collected testimonies that described these accusations as “propaganda,” and although there are statements by Eduardo Arocena about obtaining “germs,” there is no proven link between that phrase and the origin of the 1981 outbreak. In the absence of independent and verifiable evidence, presenting this as fact constitutes disinformation. latinamericanstudies.org+4PubMed+4PubMed+4
Today, four decades after those events, the stories of “biological warfare” remain without conclusive evidence.
What is clear now is that the Cuban authorities reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) that, between January 1 and September 20 of this year, they had diagnosed 34 cases (confirmed by PCR test) of chikungunya in five provinces (Guantánamo, Havana, Matanzas, Pinar del Río and Santiago de Cuba). That is, the phenomenon is not restricted to a single tourist territory and its management is part of the usual vector control protocols.
Furthermore, the text of CubaInformation attributes the contagion to Aedes aegypti and to Culex. This is false. Confirmed transmission of chikungunya occurs mainly through mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictusnot for Culex, according to the CDC.
In short, the column in question mixes political insinuations and factual errors with a biased reading of a CDC technical alert that is routine and comparable to those issued for other countries with outbreaks.
What is CubaInformation and who is behind?
CubaInformation defines itself as “a tool of the Solidarity Movement with Cuba”, with products on the web, radio and Internet TV. The project was created by the Basque association Euskadi-Cuba – which presents itself as a collective of “friendship and solidarity with Cuba” – and its most visible coordinator is the journalist José Manzaneda, head of communication for that association.
Furthermore, the website itself points out that “La Columna” is a space for personal opinion that “does not necessarily” represent the position of the medium. All of the above places the piece in a framework of activism related to the Cuban regime, not verified information.
