Photo by: Gary Raynaldo / © Diplomatic  Times   /   U.S. Embassy located in Havana, Cuba.

By Gary  Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

HAVANA  SYNDROME.    It is the term given to a set of medical signs and symptoms reportedly experienced by United States and Canadian embassy staff by a Mystery illness  first reported in Cuba, and then in China.   Twenty-six workers at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba reportedly  were  affected with the mystery illness between 2016-2017 that the U.S.  blamed on the Cuban Government. The US accused Cuba of carrying out some type of  high-tech  “sonic attacks”  targeting its diplomats.  So now, although a  US government report released this week has found the so-called Mystery illness suffered by US diplomats in Cuba was most likely caused by directed microwave radiation,  it  still remains unclear who exactly directed the energy waves.  The report by the National Academies of Sciences  involved a  study that was carried out by a team of medical and scientific experts who examined the symptoms of about 40 government employees.  The NAS report said many have suffered longstanding and debilitating effects.  

Excerpt From National Academy of Sciences Report on Havana Illness: 

‘In late 2016, U.S. Embassy personnel in Havana, Cuba, began to report the development of an unusual set of symptoms and clinical signs. For some of these patients, their case began with the sudden onset of a loud noise, perceived to have directional features, and accompanied by pain in one or both ears or across a broad region of the head, and in some cases, a sensation of head pressure or vibration, dizziness, followed in some cases by tinnitus, visual problems, vertigo, and cognitive difficulties. Other personnel attached to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, reported similar symptoms and signs to varying degrees, beginning in the following year. As of June 2020, many of these personnel continue to suffer from these and/or other health problems. Multiple hypotheses and mechanisms have been proposed to explain these clinical cases, but evidence has been lacking, no hypothesis has been proven, and the circumstances remain unclear’. 

Vermont  Senator Patrick Leahy released a statement Sunday Dec. 6, 2020 accusing  the U.S. Trump administration and some members of Congress of rushing in judgment to blame Cuba. 

“Several Members of Congress, among others, who rushed to judgment when these illnesses were first reported and publicly accused the Cuban Government, did so without any evidence or factual basis.  None of the investigations and studies that have occurred since then, including by the FBI and the NAS, produced evidence implicating the Cubans, yet they have never retracted those accusations.  This report, long awaited, was finally released because I and other Members of Congress insisted that the public, and especially the families of those afflicted, be able to read it.  I thank the members of the NAS Standing Committee for the considerable time and effort they devoted to this vexing issue.”

-Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy

The Vermont Senator added that: “Secretary Pompeo slashed our Embassy staff in Havana to a skeleton crew, and kicked out most of the Cubans at their Embassy in Washington, while U.S. Embassies in China and elsewhere, despite similar incidents, have remained fully operational and no punitive action was taken.  These incidents were exploited by the Trump Administration to buttress its punitive and cynical isolationist policy toward Cuba that has failed to achieve any of its objectives.”

Senator Leahy U.S. Must be “Seriously Concerned”  With Safety of its Overseas Embassy Personnel

“There are reasons to be seriously concerned with the safety of our Embassy personnel, wherever they are posted overseas, based on the findings and conclusions of this report.  The Biden Administration should promptly consult with Congress on how to implement the NAS’s recommendations, to ensure that our diplomats can carry out their essential functions in a manner that maximizes their safety and ensures that if incidents like this occur in the future they are responded to immediately, effectively, and in a coordinated manner.”