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A bipartisan group of US senators demanded that the State Department disregard the numerous health complaints of the so-called Havana Syndrome, inexplicable ailments with symptoms that include migraines, suffered by around 200 diplomats from that country in the Havana embassy since 2016.
The State Department defended its treatment of the health complaints of dozens of diplomats affected by the so-called “Havana Syndrome”, assuring that the Government has taken seriously the support of the victims of this disease. An estimated 200 American diplomats, officials and family members abroad have been affected by the mysterious ailment, with symptoms including migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness, other reports mention earaches, fatigue and sleep difficulties. .
In 2016, the first warning sign was released, when 22 diplomats at the United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba, complained of the disease. Since that date, officials have not reached a concrete conclusion about the cause of the syndrome or whether it is a systematic attack on the US diplomatic mission.
This Thursday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, along with other senators, including fellow Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez, and the committee’s highest-ranking Republican, James Risch, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requesting the resignation of current Ambassador Pamela Spratlen, in charge of the State Department investigation into the incidents.
“We ask that you take this step now to demonstrate that the State Department takes this matter seriously and is coordinating an appropriate agency-level response,” the senators wrote.
State Department spokesman Ned Price responded to the letter during a press conference, noting that Secretary of State Antony Blinken “has the health and safety of officials, their families and dependents as a priority.” that Blinken had met with a group of people with the syndrome and agreed on steps to investigate the incidents.
The State Department assures that it has sent a team of security experts to inspect the places where health incidents were reported, “we take every report of an abnormal health incident extremely serious,” added Ned Price.
What is known about the “Havana Syndrome”?
Researchers in the United States have struggled to determine what or who is causing the symptoms and how exactly they are doing it. Among the hypotheses, it is believed that the culprits could be a type of weapon that uses high-frequency radiation to perpetrate them.
The first reports on the Havana syndrome began in late 2016 in Cuba and since that date cases have been registered in Russia, China, Austria, Germany, Austria, Taiwan, Vietnam and other countries around the world.
The cases of Colombia and Germany are the last recorded in a series of health conditions associated with the Havana syndrome, suffered by US diplomats and intelligence officials and their families since they worked in the embassy in Havana, Cuba. At least five families in Colombia connected to the US embassy have been affected by unexplained health incidents, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will travel to Bogotá on October 20 to participate in the High-Level Dialogue between the two countries.
The Biden administration continues to investigate the matter
On October 8, President Joe Biden signed a law in support of the victims of what is known in the United States as the “Havana syndrome”, as it was in that city where the cases against diplomats were detected for the first time. Americans.
The Havana Law establishes that the US Government has the obligation to help financially those who have suffered these “attacks” whose origin is unknown and have experienced health problems. The State Department and the CIA should keep Congress informed of these incidents and detail which employees are receiving financial assistance.
#Cuba, supported by Science, said earlier what a report now reveals: alleged “acoustic attacks” served as a pretext for the Trump government to accuse us without evidence and damage relations between the two countries. The truth prevails. #We are Cuba #CubaVivahttps://t.co/2dluhYF08J
– Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) February 12, 2021
Former President Donald Trump in 2017 accused the Government of Cuba of being responsible for the “acoustic” or “sonic” attacks, which resulted in the severance of diplomatic relations with the island. However, an internal document of the State Department gave released earlier this year revealed that Trump accused Havana without having sufficient evidence.
With Reuters and local media
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