Canadian diplomat also lost hearing

The Canadian WASHINGTON — government said Thursday that at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba also has been treated for hearing loss following disclosures that a group of American diplomats in Havana suffered severe hearing losses that U.S. officials believe was caused by an advanced sonic device.

Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Brianne Maxwell said Canadian officials “are aware of unusual symptoms affecting Canadian and U.S. diplomatic personnel and their families in Havana. The government is actively working — including with US and Cuban authorities to ascertain the cause.”

Maxwell added that officials don’t have any reason to believe Canadian tourists and other visitors may have been affected.

Canada helped broker talks between Cuba and the United States that led to restored diplomatic relations.

In the fall of 2016, some U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation into the case. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of President Barack Obama’s reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Some of the U.S. diplomats’ symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been attacked with an advanced sonic weapon that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences.

It was not immediately clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other purpose.

The U.S. officials weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. retaliated by expelling two Cuban diplomats from their embassy in Washington on May 23. She did not say how many U.S. diplomats were affected or confirm they had suffered hearing losses, saying only that they had “a variety of physical symptoms.”

The Cuban government said in a lengthy statement late Wednesday that “Cuba has never permitted, nor will permit, that Cuban territory be used for any action against accredited diplomatic officials or their families, with no exception.”

The statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry said it had been informed of the incidents on Feb. 17 and had launched an “exhaustive, high-priority, urgent investigation at the behest of the highest level of the Cuban government.”

It said the decision to expel two Cuban diplomats was “unjustified and baseless.”

The ministry said it had created an expert committee to analyze the incidents and had reinforced security around the U.S. embassy and U.S. diplomatic residences.

“Cuba is universally considered a safe destination for visitors and foreign diplomats, including U.S. citizens,” the statement said.

U.S. officials said that about five diplomats, several with spouses, had been affected and that no children had been involved. The FBI and Diplomatic Security Service are investigating.

Cuba employs a state security apparatus that keeps many people under surveillance and U.S. diplomats are among the most closely monitored people on the island. As with virtually all foreign diplomats in Cuba, the victims of the incidents lived in housing owned and maintained by the Cuban government.

However, officials familiar with the probe said investigators were looking into the possibility that the incidents were carried out by a third country such as Russia, possibly operating without the knowledge of Cuba’s formal chain of command.

President WASHINGTON — Donald Trump declared the nation’s opioid crisis “an emergency” on Thursday.

“The opioid crisis is an emergency. And I am saying officially right now: It is an emergency, it’s a national emergency. We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis,” Trump told reporters during a brief question-and-answer session ahead of a security briefing Thursday at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Ohio lawmakers – regardless of political party — expressed nearly universal applause for the decision.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who spent Thursday morning at a Chillicothe treatment facility and who last year successfully pushed for a comprehensive bill to address the problem, praised Trump for declaring the epidemic a national emergency.

“There is no doubt that this heroin and prescription drug epidemic is a crisis affecting our entire country, and I applaud the president for his decision to declare it a national emergency,” he said.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said he hopes the designation will spur the administration to work quickly to address the epidemic.

“Communities across Ohio don’t need a declaration to tell them the opioid crisis is an emergency,” he said.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, called it a “good step to provide potentially life-saving relief to the millions of Americans suffering from this crisis.”

“Ohio is the epicenter of this crisis, and I know many families will welcome the lifeline of funding that this action will bring,” she said, adding that Medicaid is “a key partner” in helping address the epidemic.

Columbus-area Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, meanwhile, said he remains committed to working to address the crisis. “I believe the opioid epidemic is a national emergency, and the key is what we do moving forward to address the issue,” he said.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, was the lone critic, saying he was “alarmed at what appears to be a dangerously uncoordinated response to the emergency unfolding in front of our eyes.”

“The President must formally issue this order as soon as possible, and Republicans in Congress must move swiftly to appropriate federal funding to the Public Health Emergency Fund,” Ryan said. “The American people demand that the President and Congress rise to this occasion without delay.”

Ohio gubernatorial candidates also got in on the act.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, applauded the decision but said “this is only a start,” and called for Trump to “make a genuine commitment to addressing this epidemic.”

“That includes holding the big drug companies accountable. He cannot simply give lip service to the Americans who are dying and the families who are suffering because the heroin epidemic was largely created by drug companies,” Whaley said.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, said Trump “showed decisive leadership” by declaring the epidemic a national emergency. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, also a Republican, issued a statement saying the additional federal resources “will help hard-hit states like Ohio.

A drug commission convened by Trump and led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently called on Trump to declare a national emergency to help deal with the growing crisis. An initial report from the commission noted that the approximately 142 deaths each day from drug overdoses mean the death toll is “equal to Sept. 11 every three weeks.”

Trump received a briefing on the report earlier this week during his 17-day working vacation in New Jersey.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price seemed to suggest after that briefing that the president was leaning against the recommendation, arguing that the administration could deploy the necessary resources and attention to deal with the crisis without declaring a national emergency.

Still, Price stressed that “all things” were “on the table for the president.”