The so-called Havana Syndrome remains a mystery. The US intelligence community on Wednesday acknowledged to the media that they still have no idea where he came from and have been unable to link him to foreign adversaries.
The trouble started in 2016, and for years there has been speculation that either Russia or Cuba could be behind the mysterious “attacks.”
There is evidence, officials say, that foreign countries were not involved. In some cases, the United States detected a level of confusion between adversary governments about the accusations, and suspicions that it was an American plot.
This new assertion, first published by CNN and the daily The Washington Postand later confirmed by the State Department, ruled it unlikely that the reported illness was the result of a campaign led by an enemy of Washington.
At the daily press conference, the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said: “there is no common denominator” among all those affected, since some cases can be explained by “natural causes”, others by “environmental effects” and some are yet to be determined.
The CIA reveals that it does not believe that a US adversary is behind the “Havana Syndrome”
However, he stressed that the Biden government remains committed to continuing to provide the necessary health care for those officials who continue to be affected by associated ailments.
This conclusion, which for the moment is definitive although it does not prevent new data from appearing in the future, echoes an interim report from the CIA last year: it was unlikely that “abnormal health incidents”, as described formally known, will be caused by “a sustained global campaign” by Russia or any other foreign actor.
The assessment also goes further than expected in finding there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device capable of causing the mysterious incidents, officials told The Washington Post.
The mysterious disease was first reported, indeed, in late 2016 during the Obama administration, when a group of diplomats stationed in the Cuban capital, both American and Canadian, began reporting symptoms consistent with head trauma, dizziness, and pain. extreme head. In subsequent years, cases were reported around the world, including at least 60 incidents in Bogotá, Colombia, and Vienna, Austria. Also in the US capital, Washington DC.
The assessment is based on a review of hundreds of incidents and a wide range of surrounding factors, the officials said. There have also been about 1,500 reported cases in 96 different counties, including some cases this year, officials said. This data, if confirmed, would be a novelty.
With the argument of the so-called Havana Syndrome, the Trump administration withdrew most of its embassy staff in the Cuban capital and closed the bulk of consular operations.
However, this assessment today does not provide definitive answers about the cause of a disease that has affected hundreds of government personnel around the world.
There is no explanation for these incidents. Instead, there are many different possible causes: they include environmental and social factors and pre-existing medical conditions, the sources qualified, according to the capital newspaper.
“There is something counterintuitive about all of this. If doctors are diagnosing some of us with brain injury in the line of duty, and we’re not saying he was a foreign adversary, then what was it?” said a former CIA officer who experienced the symptoms. It was quoted by CNN, but not filmed.
The intelligence community workforce was notified of the assessment on Wednesday, authorities said. During the last few days, the victims were notified that the evaluation would be carried out. Some received a call from CIA director Bill Burns, a source said.
