I see where the mysterious Havana syndrome is back in the news again. We are also learning that the U.S. case against Cuba for unleashing these “acoustic attacks” grows weaker by each passing scientific study.
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You may recall that U.S. and Canadian diplomats stationed in Havana complained of concussion-like symptoms beginning in late 2016. Before becoming ill, some maintained that they heard a loud buzzing or high-pitched noise that sounded like metal scraping on metal.
They have since highlighted a host of unexplained ailments and symptoms – including cognitive dysfunction, ear bleeding, headaches, dizziness, blurry vision and nausea. Some have even pointed out that their children have also experienced similar types of afflictions.
Anomalous health incidents
Initially, it was thought that some kind of sonic, microwave or pulsed-energy weapon was responsible for inflicting brain trauma (indicated in early brain scans) on these diplomats and their families. In response, both Washington and Ottawa eventually reduced the number of consular officials in each of their respective embassies in Cuba. The Trump administration, though, took matters further by expelling several Cuban diplomats from the country, told Americans not to travel to Cuba and placed blame squarely on the shoulders of Havana.
But the Cubans argued from the very beginning that they had absolutely nothing to do with these serious charges. They strenuously maintained that they have always respected the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which codifies the rules for how official envoys are to be treated between sovereign states.
At first, Cuba informed the U.S. ambassador to Cuba that it was not involved, and then assigned dozens of top scientists to investigate these allegations – including specialists from outside the country. The Cubans even permitted, in a highly unprecedented move, both the RCMP and the FBI to send investigators to see for themselves. After several visits, neither could find any concrete evidence that Cuba’s fingerprints were on any of these so-called “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs).
No corroborating evidence
In March, a five-year investigation by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) found – after using sophisticated MRI scans – no corroborating evidence of serious brain injury.
When compared to a control group of federal employees involved in similar work environments (including some from the same embassy), over 80 diplomats from Cuba and elsewhere suffering from brain degeneration were shown to have few major differences after a battery of cognitive and physical tests. Moreover, the NHI reports indicated that many of these diplomats were displaying fewer symptoms and showing signs of improvement.
Co-investigator and neuropsychologist, Louis French, from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, acknowledged as much in a press briefing: “When we tested cognitive function, we didn’t see those deficits.”
He then went on to add: “What you’re seeing in some cases here are people that, for various reasons, have ongoing symptoms they’re reporting that just don’t play out when we’re looking at this objectively.”
Pre-existing conditions
Many of the intelligence agencies in the U.S. have previously stated that it is unlikely that a foreign rival was attacking U.S. diplomats and CIA agents in different parts of the world. They are more inclined to believe that these concussion-like symptoms are the result of pre-existing conditions, intense stress and other environmental factors.
According to one of those intelligence community reports, claims of brain trauma “were the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary.” But it did go on to say that “these findings do not call into question the very real experiences and symptoms that our colleagues and their family members have reported.”
Those claiming to suffer from Havana syndrome obviously believe that they are not well. That partially explains why the U.S. government has provided some CIA officers with a one-time payment of compensation ranging from US$187,000 up to $204,000 today.
Those claiming to suffer from Havana syndrome obviously believe that they are not well.
We are also learning from new reporting that the first such incident of a “sonic attack” actually goes back to Berlin in 2014. Since then, we have been told that similar cases have popped-up in China, Vietnam, Russia and Austria. Were the Cubans behind those incidents as well?
Consider the sources
Part of the reason why a cloud still hangs over Havana when it comes to AHIs is that anti-Cuba members of the U.S. Congress can’t let go of the Cuba blame-game. They are now evidently beginning to dig into how the various spy agencies handled the whole investigation into the Havana syndrome. The fact of the matter is that many elements within the U.S. government – because of historical grievances, an ideological blind spot and frozen by a view of Cuba as the “enemy” – refuse to accept that the Cubans had no hand in this.
Part of the reason why a cloud still hangs over Havana when it comes to AHIs is that anti-Cuba members of the U.S. Congress can’t let go of the Cuba blame-game.
When it comes to the Havana syndrome and things Cuban in general, you would be wise to investigate matters on your own and to pay close attention to what the scientists and specialists are saying.
Don’t always believe what is reported about Cuba in the news media. And believe even less what the U.S. government is often saying about the island of Cuba.
Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
