CUBA/FOREIGN POLICY/STATE: “The U.S. has expelled two Cuban diplomats in retaliation for a bizarre incident purportedly involving a covert sonic device that allegedly left a group of American diplomats in Havana with severe hearing loss.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert on Wednesday [8-9-17] spoke only cryptically about the matter, referring to an ‘incident’ without elaboration.
Cuba has strongly denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
The purported affair began in late 2016 when a series of U.S. diplomats in Havana began suffering unexplained losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation into the case, the Associated Press reported.
Several of the diplomats had recently arrived at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Obama’s re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba and relaxation of travel restrictions.
Nauert said that as a result of the incident, two Cuban diplomats were ordered to leave their embassy in Washington on May 23…
She did not say how many U.S. diplomats were affected or confirm they suffered hearing loss, saying only that they had ‘a variety of physical symptoms.’ She said none were life-threatening.”
-USA Today Editors, “Cuba diplomats ousted after bizarre incident with U.S. embassy workers in Havana,” USA Today, Aug. 10, 2017 10:26am