"Foreign adversaries may be involved in Havana Syndrome, sources say." - CBS Evening News "Connection revealed between Havana Syndrome, speeding Mustang in Florida" - CBS Mornings

 Full report tonight on 60 Minutes on CBS.

 

National Security reporter Jeff Stein, and founder of Spy Talk gives his analysis on the latest installment of the CBS newsmagazine show 60 Minutes report on Havana Syndrome that points to the Kremlin. 

Two teasers, one on CBS News, and another on CBS Morning, offer  reasons for concern, and to question the official narrative.

This blog has been following this story since August 9, 2017 when spokesperson Heather Nauert in a State Department briefing revealed that two Cuban diplomats were expelled from the United States on May 23, 2017 in response to "incidents in Cuba."  According to U.S. officials five U.S. diplomats were targeted by a "sonic weapon" that led to "severe hearing loss" that led to some of them canceling their tours and returning early to the United States. [ Full entry here ]

 

On August 10, 2017 another shoe dropped, the Associated Press reported that Canadian government said that at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba has also been treated for hearing loss. "Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Brianne Maxwell said Canadian officials 'are aware of unusual symptoms affecting Canadian and US diplomatic personnel and their families in Havana.'" [ Full entry here ]

The attacks began in November 2016 during the Obama Administration which apparently had no knowledge of what was going on or downplayed it out of fear that it would negatively Cuba normalization policy.

The Daily Mail headline on September 20, 2017 stated "Damning evidence Cuba's launched a sci-fi sonic weapon at America: How 21 US diplomats were hit by hearing and memory loss - and even mild brain damage - after suspicious attack."  

On January 9, 2018 three State Department officials testified before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the subject of the 2016-2017 attacks on U.S. diplomats and dependents stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba that seriously impacted 24 of them. 

The three officials who testified are: Senior Bureau Official Francisco L. Palmieri Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Assistant Director Todd J. Brown of the International Programs Directorate, Bureau of Diplomatic Security; and Dr. Charles Rosenfarb, Medical Director for the Bureau of Medical Services. 

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) asked when they became aware that brain trauma was involved and Dr. Charles Rosenfarb responded that the first patient was medically evacuated on February 6, 2017 and over the next two months evacuated 40 people.  [ Full blog entry ]

Injuries have been documented, and hypotheses to explain how they have been caused put forward, but no satisfactory explanation provided to date. 

Efforts to downplay the inconvenient fact that Cuba has a top notch intelligence service, and that such attacks on U.S. diplomats could not be carried out without their knowledge, and consent led to a letter to the editor in The Washington Post to set the record straight.

 

The Washington Post, October 30, 2020 

Opinion

Cuba has a long history of using sonic weapons

The Oct. 26 editorial “Another invisible enemy” was correct when it called for the perpetrators of sonic attacks on Americans in Cuba to be identified, Americans protected and a proper response delivered, but too many are quick to believe the claims from Cuban officials that nothing happened and that they had no knowledge of what caused the injuries.

The Castro regime has a history, stretching back decades, of harassing American diplomats such as: killing their pets, trying to run them down or crash into their vehicle and switching out mouthwash with urine. 

Furthermore, on Oct. 18, dissident Cuban artist Tania Bruguera described and recorded a sonic attack that caused her a headache and ear ache that she found difficult to tolerate. Two former Cuban political prisoners, Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez and Luis Zuniga, described at a forum held on Capitol Hill in November 2017 how prison officials used high-pitched sound to cause them physiological harm in 1979. This history and the recent attack against Ms. Bruguera using the same kind of sonic weapon with similar symptoms that had been visited on U.S. diplomats should invite greater scrutiny of Havana.

John Suarez, Falls Church

The writer is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba.

[ Full blog entry ]

The Sounds of Crickets: The long silence when Canadian and U.S. diplomats were being harmed in Cuba

Governments waited too long to warn their diplomats, and the lawsuits are now flying.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office criticized the State Department for how it handled an Accountability Review Board (ARB) following the harm done to U.S. diplomats in Havana, Cuba. The reports were downplayed, and did not become public until eight months later, because impacted diplomats were complaining. The same process has played out over in even longer span of time with Canadian diplomats and their foreign service.

Their respective governments waited to long, and underestimated the harm done. Perhaps their mistake was listening to the assurances of the Cuban government.

Twenty six (26) American diplomats and their family members were harmed in Havana, but Cuban officials claimed that the diplomats had preexisting conditions.

In the Canadian case it has been reported that "nine adults and five children from diplomatic families have developed unusual illnesses in Havana, with symptoms including nausea, dizziness, headaches and trouble concentrating." These are the same symptoms reported by the Americans.

If the warning had gone out earlier, and family and essential personal been recalled, perhaps five children would not have been impacted.

The Castro regime has tried to claim that no harm has been done to diplomats in Cuba. The dictatorship claimed they are victims of mass stress and the sounds that they are hearing are crickets.  These charges have been echoed by others that should know better.  Canadian and U.S. diplomats have been harmed in Havana.

We have filed 1st lawsuit involving US #diplomats injured in #Cuba. @MarkSZaidPC reps 8 victims from @StateDept. Tonight we filed #FOIA lawsuit for @JMadisonProject & @adamentous of @NewYorker for docs pertaining to ARB Report (internal investigation).https://t.co/zqGkEwQwcq

— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) February 8, 2019

These attacks began in November of 2016 and were reported on to official channels in December of 2016. The State Department knew that diplomats were suffering brain trauma in Havana in February of 2017 and evacuated 40 Americans over the next two months.  On January 29, 2018 the news broke that 19 U.S. tourists had also suffered brain trauma in Cuba.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a preliminary report on February 15, 2018 and an accompanying editorial studying health impacts on 21 U.S. government employees in Havana between December 2016 and August 2017. These individuals had severe injuries and the bottom line on medical findings are that:

Concussion-like symptoms were observed in U.S. government personnel in Cuba after they reported hearing intensely loud sounds in their homes and hotel rooms and feeling changes in air pressure caused by an unknown source. The symptoms were consistent with brain injury although there was no history of head trauma.

Castro regime officials on October of 2017 said talk of acoustic strikes was “science fiction” and accused Washington of “slander.” investigating U.S. complaints of attacks that sickened American diplomats in Havana.  Denials continued later in October 2017 but now their narrative was that the alleged noise behind the “sonic attacks” was coming from cicadas and crickets. Cuban scientists convened by the government argued that the symptoms were the product of a "mass psychogenic illness"(MPI). However the JAMA report said MPI was unlikely because some of the individuals had no idea others had been affected and it "is often associated with transient, benign symptoms with rapid onset and recovery often beginning with older individuals.”

Diplomats file $28M suit against Canada over injuries suffered in Cuba https://t.co/aIHHBLxoOs pic.twitter.com/cE0KQhcWhE

— National Post (@nationalpost) February 7, 2019

Canada and the United States waited too long to warn their diplomats, and the lawsuits are now flying. Meanwhile  the State Department is contracting a team of scientists and medical doctors to try and find out what happened.

Wonder when someone will be able to sue the Cuban government for failing to protect diplomats on their soil, and discounting the threat not only to the diplomats, but also their families? Waiting for an answer one can expect to hear crickets.

Diplomats in Cuba with brain injuries most likely victims of microwave weapons

Update on the sonic attacks against diplomats in Havana.

Brain injuries attributed to microwave attacks.

Doctors, scientists are now reporting that the diplomats injured in Havana beginning in 2016 and continuing through May of 2018 were most likely the victims of microwave weapons that caused their brain injuries.

Since August of 2017 this website has been following the story of the mystery surrounding U.S. diplomats at the Embassy in Havana, Cuba suffering serious and lasting injuries, including brain damage, that have had no easy explanation. In October of 2017 the President of the United States held Cuba responsible for the health attacks against American diplomats. The attacks had begun towards the end of 2016 in the waning days of the Obama Administration. A Senate Subcommittee hearing was held on January 9, 2018 investigating these health attacks along with testimony from State Department officials. Beginning in February of 2017 over 40 Americans were evacuated from Cuba due to these attacks over the next two months. New attacks occurred in Cuba in May of 2018 and in China in June of 2018.

In early October 2017 fifteen Cuban diplomats were ordered to leave the United States in reciprocity to the reduction in American personnel at the Embassy in Havana.

U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba

Health attacks in Cuba and China against U.S. diplomats: The mystery deepens and number of victims rise

More attacks in Cuba and similar attacks now in China

 
A State Department official told CBS News on June 8, 2018 that two more individuals from the U.S. embassy in Havana were undergoing medical evaluation, and that they could be suffering from the same type of injuries that affected 24 diplomats and family members between late 2016 and August of 2017. Equally disturbing reports have emerged in June of 2018 that U.S. diplomats in Beijing, China have suffered the same injuries along with unusual sounds.

This blog has been following this story since it went public on August 2017. Furthermore that 19 American tourists visiting Cuba were also impacted. All these signs surrounding what has occurred and the harm done is troubling.

Answers are still needed.

University of Michigan researchers say they have answers on how U.S. diplomats and tourists were harmed in Cuba

This story is far from over

Spy tech may have caused the injuries to diplomats and tourists.

The Michigan Engineer News Center reported on March 1, 2018 that Kevin Fu, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan "reverse-engineered the attacks in a lab" and his team "showed how ultrasonic signals—outside the range of human hearing—can combine to produce audible and potentially dangerous tones similar to the undulating, high-pitched chirping that the diplomats described."

This attacks began in November of 2016 and were reported on in December of 2016. The State Department knew that diplomats were suffering brain trauma in Havana in February of 2017 and evacuated 40 Americans over the next two months.  On January 29, 2018 the news broke that 19 U.S. tourists had also suffered brain trauma in Cuba.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a preliminary report on February 15, 2018 and an accompanying editorial studying health impacts on 21 U.S. government employees in Havana between December 2016 and August 2017. These individuals had severe injuries and the bottom line on medical findings are that:

Concussion-like symptoms were observed in U.S. government personnel in Cuba after they reported hearing intensely loud sounds in their homes and hotel rooms and feeling changes in air pressure caused by an unknown source. The symptoms were consistent with brain injury although there was no history of head trauma.

There are efforts in the media to spin the news about the harm done to these diplomats and tourists without considering some difficult questions.

Secretary Tillerson had to protect his staff by limiting our work at @USEmbCuba to emergency services. While our investigation is ongoing, rather than find excuses, #Cuba should focus on helping to locate who or what is responsible for the harm caused to American citizens.

— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) March 6, 2018

First if, as the Castro regime claims, the attacks never happened and are mass hysteria, the sounds recorded crickets then why are there physical manifestations of lasting injuries?

Secondly, if as the University of Michigan engineering professor asserts that the harm done was an "accidental side effect of attempted eavesdropping" then why did these injuries began in November of 2016 and continue through August 2017? Only ending after news of the injuries went public.

Castro agents have used listening devices for decades targeting diplomats. What changed? Why didn't the Castro regime immediately stop it when the injuries began to pile up?

The State Department tonight raised the issue of Cuba's responsibility under the Vienna Convention to protect U.S. diplomats stationed in Cuba. The consequences are grave. Staff cutbacks at the Embassy in Cuba were to be permanent the State Department announced on March 2, 2018.

Questions, if true: Why wouldn’t the Cubans admit it? Wouldn’t the CIA arrived at this conclusion months ago? In the middle, Cuban families affected by visa suspensions. #Cuba #Havana https://t.co/8LwRrynlyt

— Nora Gámez Torres (@ngameztorres) March 3, 2018

Questions remain in this mystery, but three years later Obama's Cuba policy legacy can be summed up as: brain damaged diplomats, the sounds of crickets, and an internationally legitimized dictatorship.  Hopefully the current Administration will turn things around.

President of the United States believes Castro is responsible for attacks on U.S. diplomats

Update on the sonic attacks that have harmed at least 22 Americans in Cuba 

The U.S. Embassy in Havana emptied of non-essential personnel

Today the President of the United States in a news conference in the White House Rose Garden said, "I do believe Cuba is responsible" for the health attacks on U.S. diplomats. The past week has been difficult for Castro regime apologists. The attempt to discount the "sonic attacks" as simply the overactive imagination of paranoid diplomats was blown out of the water when the Associated Press released the audio of the noise associated with the attacks on October 12, 2017. On the same day White House Chief of Staff John Kelly stated: "We believe that the Cuban government could stop the attacks on our diplomats."

The official timeline remains unknown, but news reporting indicates that beginning in November 2016 U.S. diplomats suffered injuries to their health following odd sounds being directed at them. The story did not go public until August 9, 2017 when CBS Radio was going to break the story leaked by angry victims, who believed that not enough had been done, and that the State Department was ignoring their suffering. This led to the question: did downplaying the attacks encourage more of them?  As days passed the number of diplomats impacted increased. The last attacks were apparently in August of 2017 according to news accounts.

The Castro regime, at first claiming ignorance, denied ever being involved in attacks on diplomats, then called it a case of mass hysteria.  This blog highlighted the Cuban dictatorship's prior record of targeting U.S. diplomats by Cuban state security agents who murdered their pets, replaced mouthwash with urine, and in 1996 endangered the life of Robin Myers trying to crash into her car repeatedly with other vehicles and nearly ran her off the road (the manner in which they began the attack that ended in the deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero in 2012.)

On December 17, 2014 President Obama claimed that the previous policy was static and had not achieved anything, but his policy not only coincided with a rise in repression in Cuba, the deaths of high profile dissidents, but also this insidious attack on U.S. diplomats. The same day that the President announced the normalization of relations with the Castro regime this blog made the following observation:

One hopes that the mistakes made by the Bush Administration in taking North Korea off the list are not repeated with Cuba. The belief that removing North Korea from the terror sponsor list would improve its behavior did not manifest itself after the fact. Rewarding the hardline and rogue elements in the Castro regime is unlikely to improve the dictatorship's behavior to the contrary it may worsen.

Cuba was taken off the list of state sponsors of terrorism in May of 2015 and Obama paid an official visit to Cuba in March of 2016. In January of 2017 Cuban troops being reviewed by Raul Castro chanted how they would repeatedly shoot President Obama so many times in the head that they would make a lead hat. Meanwhile to date 22 American diplomats and or their dependents have been victims of sonic attacks that has caused hearing loss, brain trauma and brain swelling.

Without guarantees that the attacks will end the United States reduced U.S. embassy officials in Cuba by 60%  on September 29, 2017 and asked 15 Cuban diplomats to leave the United States on October 3, 2017 for the sake of parity.

This story is not going away.

Sonic attacks against U.S. diplomats in Cuba?

Ominous storm clouds continue: 2 more American diplomats harmed in Cuba

A tale of two hurricanes: Irma and Castro

Hurricane Irma devastated Cuba, but lack of infrastructure Castro regime's fault

Over the past week the news regarding Cuba has rightfully focused on the devastating impact of Hurricane Irma on the island.  The worse of the storm's impact was along the north shore where the hurricane arrived, but even in Havana that was just grazed by the storm there was significant damage and at least 10 deaths. According to EFE Irma damaged 4,288 homes in Havana, with 157 totally destroyed and 986 partially destroyed. The damage in the Cuban Capital also demonstrates over a half century of neglect by the Castro regime.

There was also some controversy regarding the tourism industry that is run by the Cuban military.  On Wednesday, September 6, 2017 the day before the Castro regime gave the order to evacuate Cayo Coco British tourists were still flying into Cuba. The British travel agency "Thomas Cook has defended itself saying the company followed the Cuban government's emergency instructions to the letter," reported BBC News. Cayo Coco suffered the full impact of Hurricane Irma and was destroyed by the storm.

However another controversy continues to fester in Cuba. American diplomats severely injured in a series of sonic attacks that caused brain trauma and hearing loss that began in November of 2016 and continued until August of 2017. Two more American diplomats have been identified as being harmed in Cuba in reports that appeared in The Washington Post, CBS News and other outlets. This brings the total number of Americans attacked in Cuba to 21.

Back on December 17, 2014 this blog made the following observation: "Rewarding the hard line and rogue elements in the Castro regime is unlikely to improve the dictatorship's behavior to the contrary it may worsen."

On September 1, 2017 in an open letter to President Trump made the stakes for changing the current policy and holding the Castro regime accountable clear:

Maintaining the present policy established by the previous administration is harming the lives of American diplomats and needs to be dismantled as soon as possible.  As you stated it is time to adopt a policy approach based "in a principled realism, rooted in our values, shared interests, and common sense."

The Castro regime has a record of attacking and mistreating diplomats stationed in Cuba. Common sense dictates viewing them as hostile not only to American interests but also American lives and security precautions taken to ensure the physical safety of diplomats and their families stationed in Cuba.

There are ominous storm clouds over relations between Cuba and the United States. Americans are already being harmed. Now is the time to address the problem before things deteriorate further. It is important for policymakers to distinguish between the totalitarian dictatorship that represses Cubans, and attacks American diplomats, and the Cuban people.

Policy should seek to help everyday Cubans while not providing or minimizing funds wherever possible going to the repressive apparatus.  Hurricane Irma was a terrible disaster for Cuba but it is also important to remember that Hurricane Castro has been an even greater disaster for the island since 1959 and shows no signs of leaving.

Ominous clouds over US - Cuba relations

Dear President Trump: An open letter on Cuba policy in light of recent attacks on U.S. diplomats

Americans are being harmed in Cuba. Time to completely dismantle your predecessors failed policy.

President Trump at the Manuel Artime Theater with Cuban Americans in June 2017

Dear Mr. President, 

The Cuba policy set by your predecessor publicly and clearly on December 17, 2014 has not only not improved relations between the United States and Cuba but endangered the lives of American diplomats. This should not come as a surprise and in fact many, including myself, predicted that the actions taken: freeing a spy who had murdered Americans, removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism without cause, and watering down a State Department report on human trafficking to improve Cuba's  international standing would only encourage the worse actors and so it has.

American diplomats are being physically harmed in Cuba and according to press accounts the number today stands at 19. Back on June 16, 2017 when you addressed Cuba policy and released the "National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba" that begins by defining what will guide this new policy:

My Administration's policy will be guided by the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, as well as solidarity with the Cuban people.  I will seek to promote a stable, prosperous, and free country for the Cuban people.  To that end, we must channel funds toward the Cuban people and away from a regime that has failed to meet the most basic requirements of a free and just society.

Mr President you identified the Castro regime for what it is and denounced it for its past crimes in dramatic contrast with your predecessor:

"To the Cuban government, I say:  Put an end to the abuse of dissidents.  Release the political prisoners.  Stop jailing innocent people.  Open yourselves to political and economic freedoms.  Return the fugitives from American justice -- including the return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard. And finally, hand over the Cuban military criminals who shot down and killed four brave members of Brothers to the Rescue who were in unarmed, small, slow civilian planes.  (Applause.) Those victims included Mario de la Pena, Jr., and Carlos Costa."

Mr. President the Castro regime is a state sponsor of terrorism that has not reformed its ways and you highlighted some of the Cuban dictatorship's bad acts in that same June speech:

The Castro regime has shipped arms to North Korea and fueled chaos in Venezuela.  While imprisoning innocents, it has harbored cop killers, hijackers, and terrorists.  It has supported human trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation all around the globe.  This is the simple truth of the Castro regime. (Applause.) My administration will not hide from it, excuse it, or glamorize it.  And we will never, ever be blind to it.  We know what's going on and we remember what happened.  (Applause.)

These words are important but now that American lives are being harmed it is time to take some specific actions to dismantle your predecessor's policy that is still in place. On January 4, 2017 four former U.S. ambassadors made a number of specific requests that I hope will be implemented in light of recent events:

1. Your predecessors "ill-conceived and unlawful executive orders lifting restrictions on doing business with the Castro regime should be included among the other measures that your administration plans to rescind." ... "American policy toward Cuba and elsewhere should be consistent with U.S. law."

2. "The terms of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 should be enforced, starting immediately. Tourism, purchases of Cuban goods, and partnering with government entities should be prohibited, in accordance with current U.S. law."

3. The prior administration "sought to appease the Cuban regime by removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and for the most part ceasing any contacts with the democratic opposition. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations apologized to the world body for our country’s supposed use of democracy promotion and human rights in the past as a 'pretext' to meddle in the affairs of other countries." The Cuban dictatorship should be placed back on the list of terror sponsors.

4.  "The regime should no longer be allowed to select, and act as paymaster for, the embassy’s local hires. This allows the regime to siphon off a major part of the employees’ wages, and has serious security implications as well.The U.S. should insist on strict reciprocity in how its embassy in Havana and Cuba’s in Washington are run, based on international standards and practices."

5. Cuba today has been described as an occupying force in Venezuela with at least 15,000 personnel of the Castro regime doing all they can to consolidate a totalitarian, Marxist Leninist dictatorship in Venezuela.  This runs counter to the interests not just of the United States, but of all democracies in the region and Venezuelans.

6. The holdovers at the State Department from the previous Administration need to be replaced as soon as possible with sound personnel who share your vision for Latin America.

Maintaining the present policy established by the previous administration is harming the lives of American diplomats and needs to be dismantled as soon as possible.  As you stated it is time to adopt a policy approach based "in a principled realism, rooted in our values, shared interests, and common sense."

The Castro regime has a record of attacking and mistreating diplomats stationed in Cuba. Common sense dictates viewing them as hostile not only to American interests but also American lives and security precautions taken to ensure the physical safety of diplomats and their families stationed in Cuba.

June 16, 2017 was a good first step but time is of the essence and the lives of Americans are being harmed. It is time to follow though Mr. President and dismantle your predecessors failed policy in favor of one rooted in American values, principled realism and common sense.

Sincerely,

John Suarez
Augusto Monge