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US Embassy staff in Bogota, Colombia, mysterious “Havana Syndrome” continues to haunt US spies and diplomats around the world.
Two cases were initially reported by embassy staff in the capital, US officials said on Tuesday, but several more may have been affected. In an email in mid-September, embassy staff were warned of “abnormal health events” involving at least five families affiliated with the embassy, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the latest known cases in a startling series of attacks. US officials.
The State Department and Colombian intelligence are investigating the reports, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to visit the South American country next week.
The State Department declined to comment on reports from embassy staff, who raised privacy concerns when contacted by the Washington Times, but said the department “takes every report extremely seriously and is working to ensure that affected employees get the care they need.”
“As part of the National Security Council-led interagency response effort and in coordination with our partners across the US government, we are vigorously investigating reports of attacks. [anomalous health incidents] Wherever they are reported,” a State Department spokesperson added, “cross-agency is actively working to determine the cause of these incidents and whether they can be attributed to a foreign actor, and is focused on providing care to those affected.”
The Colombia incident comes after it was confirmed last week that German police were investigating an “alleged sonic weapon attack” on staff at the US Embassy in Berlin, according to Reuters. Police issued a statement Friday in response to a report by Der Spiegel.
The reported incidents are part of a wave of suspected attacks in recent months.
The first reports of the syndrome began to surface in 2016 by US officials serving at the US Embassy. Havana, Cuba. Several officials began to experience debilitating symptoms, including dizziness and headaches, which in some cases could last for years.
Since the first diagnoses in 2016, the number of U.S. officials reporting symptoms worldwide, including in U.S. territories, has continued to rise. In May, reports reported on two US officials Havana Syndrome near the White House.
In August, a “possible abnormal health event” that some believe Havana Syndrome case – reported by the US Embassy in Hanoi, briefly delaying Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Vietnam.
Earlier this month, a CIA officer reported symptoms while traveling in India, at the same time CIA Director Bill Burns was in the country.
Some estimate that more than 200 officials were targeted in the attacks, which affected officials from the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the CIA.
Many were skeptical.”Havana syndrome” cases are caused by microwave or directed energy attacks. The December National Academy of Sciences report concluded that the symptoms were “consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radiofrequency (RF) energy,” but the U.S. government has yet to determine the specific cause.
Last week, President Biden signed into law a bill passed by Congress in September to provide financial and medical assistance to victims.
“Taking these events was a top priority for my administration,” Mr Biden said. We are using all the resources of the US government to get to the bottom of it, including providing first-class medical care to those affected and determining the cause of these events and who is responsible.”
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