U.S. yanks Cuba staff

WASHINGTON— The United States delivered an ominous warning to Americans on Friday to stay away from Cuba and ordered home more than half the U.S. diplomatic corps, acknowledging that neither the Cubans nor the FBI can figure out who or what is responsible for months of mysterious health ailments.

No longer tiptoeing around the issue, the Trump administration shifted to calling the episodes “attacks” rather than “incidents.”

The U.S. Embassy (pictured) in Cuba will lose roughly 60% of its American staff and will stop processing visas for prospective Cuban travelers to the U.S. indefinitely, officials said. Roughly 50 Americans had been working at the embassy.

President Trump said in Cuba “they did some very bad things” that harmed U.S. diplomats, but he didn’t say who he might mean by “they.”

Though officials initially suspected some futuristic “sonic attack,” the picture is muddy. The FBI and other agencies that searched homes and hotels where incidents occurred found no devices.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said U.S. presence there will be reduced “until the government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba.”