Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
U.S. makes Cuba staff cuts permanent
WASHINGTON — Citing mysterious “health attacks” in Havana, the United States said Friday it was making permanent its withdrawal of 60 percent of its diplomats from Cuba as investigations continue.
Last October, the State Department ordered nonessential embassy personnel and the families of all staff to leave Havana, arguing the U.S. could not protect them from unexplained illnesses that have harmed at least 24 Americans.
But by law, the department can order diplomats to leave for only six months before either sending them back or making the reductions permanent. The six months expire Sunday.
The department said it set in place a new, permanent staffing that maintains a lower level of two dozen people — “the minimum personnel necessary.”
The department also said that the embassy in Havana would operate as an “unaccompanied post,” meaning diplomats posted there will not be allowed to have spouses or children live with them in the country.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed off on the new staffing out of concern for “the health, safety and well-being of U.S. government personnel and family members,” the department said in a statement.
“We still do not have definitive answers on the source or cause of the attacks, and an investigation into the attacks is ongoing,” the department said.
Cuba has repeatedly denied either involvement in or knowledge of any attacks, and has said its own investigation into the illnesses has turned up no evidence of deliberate action.
The United States has not accused Cuba of such action but has said Havana holds responsibility nonetheless, arguing that such incidents could not have occurred on the small, communist-run island without the knowledge of Cuban officials.
The mysterious case has sent U.S.-Cuba relations plummeting from what had been a high point when the two countries, estranged for a half-century, restored full diplomatic ties under President Barack Obama in 2015.
In late 2016, U.S. Embassy personnel began seeking medical care for hearing loss and ear-ringing that they linked to weird noises or vibrations — initially leading investigators to suspect “sonic attacks.”
An interim FBI report in early January said the investigation has uncovered no evidence that sound waves could have damaged the Americans' health. But Tillerson has said he's still convinced the diplomats were hit by deliberate, specific attacks targeting their health.
Doctors treating the patients said in a study published last month that the sounds heard by diplomats might have been a byproduct of something else that might help explain the full symptom list: memory problems, impaired concentration, irritability, balance problems and dizziness. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association said doctors still have no clear diagnosis of just what happened.
The downsizing of the embassy staff — along with a travel warning the U.S. issued warning Americans to reconsider travel to the island — have had significant effects for Cuba's economy and for its citizens. With fewer employees on hand, the U.S. Embassy in Havana halted visa processing, forcing Cubans who wish to visit the United States to seek visas through U.S. embassies in other countries. The U.S. is also expected to fall far short of granting the 20,000 immigrant visas to Cubans that have been allotted annually for decades.