Investigators say US sonic allegations are ‘fiction’

HAVANA: Cuban officials investigating US complaints of attacks on diplomats in Havana said talk of acoustic strikes was “science fiction” and accused Washington of “slander” while it refused to cooperate fully with Cuba’s enquiry.

US President Donald Trump said last week he believed Havana was responsible for 24 diplomats being harmed. Washington expelled 15 Cuban diplomats and recalled more than half the US diplomatic personnel from Havana earlier this month.

While Cuba had already denounced the expulsions as “unjustified” and accused the US of insufficient cooperation, three Interior Ministry officials and a doctor heading the inquiry provided more details in an interview in Havana on Sunday.

Cuba had deployed about 2,000 security officials and experts, from criminologists to audiologists and mathematicians, to investigate the incidents after it became aware of them in February, the investigators said.

The probe has not ended but it had so far failed to uncover any evidence to corroborate allegations of attacks that the US says have caused hearing loss, dizziness, fatigue and cognitive issues in diplomatic personnel while based on the Communistrun island.

“This is slander by the United States,” said Coronel Ramiro Ramirez, responsible for the security of diplomats in Cuba.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

Washington officials have raised the possibility that sonic weapons were used to harm the diplomats, according to US media reports. However, Cuban investigators denied such weapons could even have been used by third parties without affecting the health of others or attracting attention.

“It’s impossible. We are talking about science fiction,” said Lt Col Jose Alazo, an expert in the criminal investigation unit of the Interior Ministry. “From a technical point of view, that argument is unsustainable.”

The investigators said the US had supplied 14 recordings of the sound it says the victims heard during the attacks and recorded, for example, on mobile phones.

These, however, did not contain anything that could damage human health, they concluded. The noises included the usual suburban sounds such as traffic, footsteps and voices.

They were also characterised by a deviation peak of 7 kiloHertz in the frequency band of 3kHz, similar to the song of a cricket.

An audible sound would need to be very loud — above 80 decibels or akin to a plane’s engine — to have a health impact, they said. Yet only the victims heard the noise, not their families living in the same houses, nor their neighbours.

“We interviewed more than 300 people in the neighbourhood, we also evaluated more than 30 medically, and no one heard these things,” Lt Col Alazo said.

Even if the US diplomats’ report of loud sounds was misleading and the source of the attacks were infra- or ultrasonic and therefore inaudible to human ears, it would be hard to explain how it could go undetected, the Cuban investigators said.

“You would need a source that could be seen from a satellite, it would be enormous,” said Manuel Villar, an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Finally, only two or three of the alleged victims had hearing problems, according to the US information provided, whereas any kind of sonic attack would cause them in everyone, Dr Villar said.

The US has not formally accused Cuba of carrying out attacks, but Mr Trump’s comments further damaged relations between the old Cold War foes, which have rapidly deteriorated since he took office.

Washington insists its drawdown at its embassy was motivated by concern for the health of its diplomats.