The mysterious symptoms of the so-called syndrome Havana experienced by American diplomats in recent years have been linked to a unit of russian intelligenceaccording to a joint investigation by several media published on Monday.
Havana syndrome was first reported in 2016. American diplomats in Cuba's capital fell ill and reported hearing piercing sounds at night.
These symptoms sparked speculation about a possible attack by a foreign entity with some type of sonic weapon. According to those who have experienced this syndrome, symptoms include migraine, dizziness, nausea, vision problems, among others.
The media The Insider, Der Spiegel and the CBS program “60 Minutes” assure in their investigation that there is “evidence that suggests” that Havana syndrome is caused by “use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of unit 29155 (of the Russian GRU)“, according to the report.
Russia's unit 29155 conducts operations abroad and has been blamed for several international incidents, including the attempted poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018.
The study “did not reveal any major differences (…) in brain structure or function
Moscow said Monday that the report's conclusions are “unfounded.”
“This issue has been talked about in the press for many years now. And from the beginning it has mostly been linked to the Russian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said at a press conference.
“But no one has published any convincing evidence, so this whole thing is nothing more than an unfounded and baseless accusation,” he said.
Washington closed its immigration office in Havana in 2018 due to a change in US policy towards Cuba and due to the fear that the syndrome generated among diplomats.
US intelligence said in 2022 that intense energy directed from an external source could have caused some of these symptoms, officially known as anomalous health incidents (AHI).
But US intelligence agencies concluded in March 2023 that “there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device that is causing AHIs.”
Washington announced the reopening of its immigration office in Havana in August 2023.
The year-long media investigation suggests that those in Havana were not the first cases of this syndrome: “It is likely that there were attacks two years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany, when a US government employee at the consulate “He was knocked unconscious by something like a strong beam of energy.”
The New Yorker reported in July 2021 that around two dozen US intelligence agents, diplomats and other officials in Austria had reported problems similar to Havana syndrome since President Joe Biden took office that same year.
A recent investigation that studied more than 80 cases with the disorder showed no significant brain lesions, according to a study by the health agency.
The study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published Monday in the journal JAMA, examined 81 patients who experienced “abnormal health incidents,” according to the terminology used in the United States.
The study “did not reveal any important differences (…) in brain structure or function” between individuals in the two groups, they note.
According to Leighton Chan, lead author of one of the two studies and cited in a statement from the NIH, despite these results “it is important to recognize that these symptoms exist, cause significant alterations in the lives of those who experience them and are affected, and can be quite long-lasting, disabling and difficult to treat.
#Havana #syndrome #Russian #intelligence #mysterious #disease
