U.S. detects cases of “Havana syndrome” in Colombian embassy officials

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The U.S. Government has confirmed that more than a dozen people linked to the Embassy in Colombia have suffered symptoms of what is known as “Havana syndrome”, an allusion to the events that were first detected in the Cuban capital.

The controversy dates back to Cuba at the end of 2016 and, since then, victims have also been detected in countries such as Russia and China. U.S. President Joe Biden signed a law last week that aims to support the victims, who suffer symptoms including headaches, memory loss, or nausea.

Colombia has now joined the list of countries with more than a dozen people affected, including both embassy officials and family members, according to sources quoted by ‘The Wall Street Journal’.

Several people who have suffered symptoms compatible with this “Havana syndrome” have already been evacuated from Colombia, including a family with a minor, reports CNN.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, plans to visit Colombia next week, although the State Department has preferred not to comment on the latest information for the moment.

The spokesman, Ned Price, has defended that the health of the personnel abroad is a “priority” for the Administration and has insisted on the need to maintain the “privacy” of those affected by these “anomalous” incidents.

WHAT IS IT?

Havana syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms reported by the United States and Canadian embassy staff in Havana, Cuba, dating to late 2016, and subsequently in other countries.

The U.S. Department of State has referred to the events as “unexplained health incidents” or UHIs, while the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director has publicly called them attacks.

In 2018, U.S. diplomats in China reported problems similar to those reported in Cuba, as did undercover CIA agents working in other countries with partner agencies on missions countering Russian covert operations.

A study of affected diplomats in Cuba published in the medical journal JAMA in 2019 found evidence that the diplomats experienced some form of brain injury, but did not determine the cause or specific character of the trauma.

While there is no expert consensus on the syndrome’s cause, a co-author of the JAMA study considered microwave weapons “the main suspect”.