U.S. stands by claims of attack in Cuba
Official insists Castro knows what happened
WASHINGTON — The United States stood behind its assertion that U.S. personnel in Cuba were deliberately attacked and raised the possibility Tuesday that a virus was used, as lawmakers and even the FBI challenged the initial theory of “sonic attacks.”
The lack of answers more than a year after the incidents started has emboldened Cuba’s defenders to argue the U.S. can’t be certain anyone was harmed intentionally — especially since no proof has been publicly presented. But top State Department officials testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said even if it wasn’t a sonic attack, they were sure it was an attack of some other kind.
Fueling renewed skepticism was a new FBI report saying the U.S. has found no evidence sonic waves were used to harm Americans in Havana. Officials told Congress there are many theories that haven’t been ruled out — including the possibility of a virus deployed intentionally to infect the workers.
Todd Brown, assistant director for the State Department’s Diplomatic Security service, did not offer any evidence for why a virus might be to blame.
“We are not much further ahead than we were in finding out why this occurred,” Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein said after the hearing. Still, he insisted that President Raul Castro’s government “knows what occurred” and refuses to tell the United States.
Cuba has repeatedly and adamantly denied involvement or knowledge of any attacks. Josefina Vidal, the country’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs, described Tuesday’s hearing as an irresponsible effort to advance an anti-cuban political agenda, arguing that “months of investigation have shown that there has been no attack of any sort.”
“The biggest victim of today’s hearing was the truth,” Vidal told reporters in Havana.
But Brown said even if the strange sounds heard by the vast majority of the 24 “medically confirmed”
U.S. patients didn’t cause the damage, the sounds weren’t necessarily unrelated.
Dr. Charles Rosenfarb, the State Department’s chief doctor, also dismissed speculation that the illnesses were psychosomatic. He said there were “exact findings” on precise, objective medical tests that can’t be easily faked.
“The findings suggest this is not an episode of mass hysteria,” Rosenfarb said.