US still at loss to explain Cuba ‘ attacks’ on envoys

■ It’s been more than a year since first of 24 US diplomats fell victim to mystery attack ◗ US press reports suggest that the FBI agents dispatched to Havana have been able to find no evidence to support the acoustic or sonic weapon theory.

Washington, Jan. 10: More than a year since the first of 24 US diplomats and family members fell victim to a mystery attack in Havana, the United States is still at a loss to explain what happened.

Only one thing is clear... the US government holds Cuba responsible, arguing that Raul Castro’s authoritarian state must have either carried out the assaults or at least know who did. The issue has poisoned any attempt to move forward with the fragile detente achieved between the former Cold War foes, who re- opened their embassies and exchanged ambassadors in 2015 for the first time since 1961.

But, as Washington continues to press Havana for action, there is one extremely important plank in their case missing: US officials simply do not know who or what caused their diplomats to fall ill with injuries resembling brain trauma.

On Tuesday, in a hearing for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Department officials said they would open a review board into their own handling of the issue, but could offered frustrated lawmakers little in the way of answers.

Initially officials suspected the Americans had been targeted by some sort of acoustic weapon, although in public senior officials were more cautious, speaking of “health attacks.”

Now, US press reports suggest that FBI agents dispatched to Havana have been able to find no evidence to support the acoustic or sonic weapon theory. Some in Washington have begun to wonder if now is the time to start sending non- essential staff back to the Havana embassy, since there’s no proof of what happened.

Secretary of state Rex Tillerson, however, rejects that idea, as long as the those behind the “health attacks” have not been identified and dealt with.

“We’re not much ahead of where we were in finding out what occurred and we need to find that out,” assistant secretary of state for public affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters.

“We believe that the Cuban government knows what occurred, so what we’d like them to do is to tell us what occurred, so that this doesn’t happen again.

“We’re not considering restoring staff,” he added.

The chairman of the Senate committee that summoned the officials, Senator Marco Rubio, did not hide his frustration.

“Maybe it wasn’t acoustic, maybe they used microwaves, but that is irrelevant,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill.

“At the end of the day we know that there was an attack, that 24 Americans were hurt when they were working and living in Havana as part of the embassy.”