U.S. Embassy roster reduced to just 10 diplomats
As Cuba faces a generational shift in power with leader Raul Castro expected to retire from the presidency April 19, the United States has few official eyes and ears on the island.
An embassy roster, which was updated March 22 on the State Department’s website, lists no political or economic officers and a total of only 10 diplomats, including Charge d’affaires Philip Goldberg, the chief of mission in the absence of an ambassador. There are no public affairs or cultural officers listed either.
Most of the jobs that remain after the United States reduced personnel levels in response to mysterious incidents affecting the health of its diplomats deal with maintenance, security or the internal functioning of the embassy that sits along Havana’s seaside Malecon.
On March 2, the State Department announced that for the indefinite future it would staff the Havana Embassy at the minimum level “necessary to perform core diplomatic and consular functions.”
In the wake of what the United States has deemed “health attacks” on its diplomats, the embassy had been operating under temporary ordered departure status since Sept. 29. About two-thirds of the embassy staff was withdrawn after two dozen diplomatic personnel complained of mysterious symptoms ranging from hearing loss and ringing in the ears to mild concussions, headaches and memory and sleep disorders. The United States also expelled 17 Cuban diplomats from Washington and issued a travel alert for U.S. visitors to the island as part of its response.
When the temporary status expired in March, a new permanent staffing plan was put it place that kept personnel levels at a minimum. Now just a single consular officer, Consul General Brendan Mullarkey, is listed on the embassy roster.
The embassy staff is now much smaller than when the U.S. diplomatic post operated as an Interests Section before the United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations on July 20, 2015, as part of the Obama administration’s rapprochement with Cuba.
The State Department says it still does not have “definitive answers” on what caused the adverse symptoms experienced by the diplomats.