The attacks on US diplomats in Cuba...a mystery or politics?
The diplomat in charge of the issues related to the US in the Cuban chancellery, Josefina Vidal, assured in January that the Cuban government had months of exhaustive investigations to demonstrate that such attacks had not occurred.
A panel composed of experts from the USA evaluated the cases and concluded that the pattern of the affectations is consistent with a trauma caused by sources that are not natural, as stated by the medical director of the medical services bureau of the State Department, Charles Rosenfarb, in July of last year.
The Cuban government launched its own investigation but insists on the lack of collaboration on the part of the US in sharing the information they possess to carry out a thorough investigation. The Cuban specialist has not interviewed the victims.
The doctor from the University of Miami who traveled to Cuba to assist US diplomats and intelligence officers affected by the alleged health attacks discarded the origin of such attacks and the symptoms being psychological. In declarations to the New Herald, the doctor Michael Hoffer, confirmed that the causes of the symptoms suffered by the 24 victims confirmed by the American experts are not psychosomatic.
The specialist explains that people with psychosomatic disorders develop physical symptoms caused by emotional circumstances such as stress and anxiety. The most common symptoms presented in victims of the apparent attacks are the loss of hearing, headaches, fatigue, nausea, and light brain trauma.
Retired from the US Navy and expert in the treatment of hearing loss and brain trauma, Hoffer was sent by the US government to Havana for the purpose of examining 80 US diplomats and their families.
The specialist in otorhinolaryngology at the University of Miami is one of the authors of two medical articles that offers details of the case, and that should appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, once the Department of State approves the publication.
The trigger for these symptoms continues to be a mystery for everyone
The FBI has ruled out the hypothesis of the probability of an acoustic weapon. The Canadian diplomats presented similar symptoms but the government of that country has not wanted to offer information on the subject. The truth is that the State Department has not determined the origin or the actors behind the alleged attacks, yet, which took place between November 2016 and August 2017, in residences of diplomats and two hotels in Havana.
Hoffer declined to comment on the case without authorization from the State Department. However, a former director of the University of Miami said that Hoffer considered the evidence he had to classify the incidents as attacks.
The Cuban government, for its part, says there are no signs of such attacks against US diplomats. The island government summoned experts to investigate the incidents. The results have shown that the origin of the symptoms could be related to a case of collective hysteria, a thesis also handled by specialists in the United States. At this point, both sides have ruled out the theory of sonic attacks.