US orders diplomats to leave Cuba

The United States is warning Americans against visiting Cuba and ordering more than half of its Havana embassy personnel to leave the island, senior officials said yesterday in a dramatic response to what they described as “specific attacks” affecting the health of diplomats.

The decision deals a blow to already delicate ties between the US and Cuba - longtime adversaries who only recently began putting their hostility behind them. The embassy in Havana will lose roughly 60 per cent of its US staff, and will stop processing visas in Cuba indefinitely, the American officials said. Roughly 50 Americans are currently working at the embassy in Havana.

In a new travel warning set to be issued yesterday, the US will say some of the mysterious attacks have occurred in Cuban hotels, and that while American tourists are not known to have been hurt, they could be exposed if they travel to Cuba. Tourism is a critical component of Cuba’s economy.