Declassified US Report Dismantles Story of Sonic Attacks

A State Department report declassified Thursday dismissed the theory of the causes behind the alleged acoustic attacks reported in 2017 by U.S. diplomats in Havana.

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The document, which dismantles the political argument used by the administration of former President Donald Trump to reinforce the U.S. blockade against Cuba, was completed in 2018, but comes to light now to ratify what the scientific community already demonstrated.

Noises linked to a mysterious disease among U.S. diplomats in Cuba, dubbed the “Havana Syndrome," were likely caused by insects rather than microwave weapons, the declassified report has revealed.

According to the study, there are no microwave weapons associated with the alleged health ailment that caused the Trump administration to decide to dismantle its embassy in the Cuban capital. 

The scientific review was commissioned by the U.S. State Department and written by the independent science advisory group JASON.

The United States accused Cuba, without evidence, of an alleged deliberate attack against its diplomatic corps accredited in Havana, which the authorities of the island nation categorically denied from the outset. 

Last July, President Joe Biden ordered the State Department to examine the possibility of increasing the staff of its representation on the island in the midst of the long-promised review of the policy towards the largest of the Antilles.

In multiple scenarios, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has reiterated that his country has never perpetrated nor will it perpetrate attacks of any nature against diplomatic officials or their families, without exception. He has also remarked that Cuba never allowed nor will it ever allow its territory to be used by third parties for such purposes.

This is in line with Cuba's adherence to its obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, with regard to the protection of the integrity of accredited officials on national soil, as well as their families. 

Another declassified State Department report earlier this year suggested that Trump's decision regarding the Havana embassy was, above all, a political response plagued by mismanagement, lack of coordination and procedural non-compliance.

The escalation of statements and actions by the Trump administration was mounted on the story of the health incidents and false accusations, according to Johana Tablada, who is the deputy director general for the United States at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Such actions “tightened the blockade and redoubled hostility against Cuba," she warned at the time.