Mystery as ‘sonic weapon’ deafens US envoys in Cuba

AMERICAN diplomats in Cuba have been targeted in a series of bizarre incidents which left them with severe hearing loss.

US officials said they had been exposed to an advanced sonic device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their homes, which are owned and maintained by the Cuban government.

It was not clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other purpose. The incidents, which happened last autumn, have put a strain on ties between the two countries.

Several of the diplomats had recently arrived at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 when President Barack Obama reestablished relations with Cuba.

Some of their symptoms were so severe that they were forced to return to the US, said officials speaking on condition of anonymity. State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said the US retaliated by expelling two Cuban diplomats from their embassy in Washington on May 23. She did not say how many US diplomats were affected or confirm they had suffered hearing loss, saying only that they had ‘a variety of physical symptoms’.

Yesterday the Cuban government said the decision to expel two of its diplomats was ‘unjustified and baseless’. It said it had conducted an ‘exhaustive’ investigation after being told of the incidents and had reinforced security around the US embassy and US diplomatic residences.

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 government.