An intensive article in CubaDebate reviews the details of Cuba’s investigation of the alleged “sonic attacks” on U.S. diplomats in Havana and concludes that there is no credible evidence of such attacks.[1] The article asserts the following as preliminary conclusions of the Cuban investigation:
- There “is NO evidence to indicate the occurrence of the alleged acoustic attacks;”
- “It has not been possible to establish investigative hypotheses about the origin of these events, which by their nature are eminently sensory and do not leave traces or traces, an aspect supported by the representatives of the specialized agencies of the [U.S.] that traveled to Cuba.”
- “Nor have possible authors or persons with motivation, intention or means to execute this type of actions been identified. In the work carried out by the team of Cuban researchers and in the information provided by US officials, the incidence of people or suspicious media in the places of occurrence or in its surroundings has not been established.”
- “The medical team and Cuban scientists, after the expert technical analysis of the sound samples given by the[U.S.], certified the impossibility of these causing the health affectations described by the diplomats.”
- “No evidence has been obtained of the existence in the country of any equipment that emits sound, such as the one described by the[U.S.]. No intentions, plans or the introduction to the national territory of these equipment through the air or maritime border have been detected.”
Now some in Cuba, including the authors of this article, are calling the alleged sonic attacks the “Maine Sonico.” This is an obvious reference to the U.S. claiming the 1898 explosion and sinking of the U.S. battleship S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor was caused by the Spanish and as a result the U.S. entered Cuba’s war of independence against Spain and after defeating the Spanish obtained a de facto protectorate over Cuba whereas a 1976 investigation by U.S. naval investigators determined the explosion was caused by spontaneous combustion in the battleship that ignited its ammunition stocks and caused the sinking of the ship.[2]
Conclusion
This characterization of the alleged sonic attacks is an explosive claim itself. It essentially and implicitly asserts that the U.S. allegations of sonic claims are fraudulent in their entirety and are being used by the Trump Administrationas a fraudulent excuse to reverse President Obama’s efforts to normalize relations between the two countries and to enable U.S. investigators, with Cuban consent, to go to the island and fraudulently investigate other issues.
Another possible explanation of the U.S. claims is that there were actual medical problems for some U.S. diplomats in Cuba that were caused by a secret and malfunctioning U.S. device and that the U.S. does not want to reveal the existence of this secret device.
Both of these theories need further investigation in the U.S. to determine if either or both are valid. The repeated State Department assertions that the U.S. investigations to date have not identified a cause or perpetrator of the alleged attacks is at best surprising and indirectly supports looking for other theories to explain the alleged attacks.
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[1] Falcón, Reinaldo & Martinez, Incongruences of the acoustic attack: Why is not the Maine Sonico against Cuba credible? (+ Video), CubaDebate (Oct. 30, 2017),
[2] The Maine explodes, This Day in History: February 15 [1898].
Granma Journalist Sees Alleged Sonic Attacks As Latest Example of U.S. Creating Pretexts for Hostile Actions
Eller Ramirez Cañedo of Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, alleges that the U.S. “has a long experience – practically since the independence of the Thirteen Colonies – in how a propaganda reason is constructed to justify the hostile policy against another nation, in order to fulfill its expansionist or world domination purposes, something that the rulers of that country have considered divine mandate.”
The article with a photograph of the sunken S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor from 1898 has a long paragraph about the U.S. using that as an excuse to enter into a war with Spain and take over Cuba, including William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers’ urging Americans “To Remember the Maine.”
But that is only one of many alleged U.S. manufacturing of pretexts for taking hostile action against other countries, according to the article. It concludes by discussing the intensive Cuban investigation of the alleged acoustic attacks on U.S. diplomats in Havana that found no evidence to support such attacks and asserting that “Never, nor in the worst moments of the relations between both countries, did Cuba perform any act that could be harmful to the physical integrity of US diplomats, on the contrary” and that do have done so would have been contrary to Cuba’s pursuit of normalization of relations with the U.S. since December 17, 2014.
In the meantime, five members of Congress have asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate the U.S. State Department’s response to the alleged acoustic attacks. Their joint statement said, “It is not new that the Castro regime undermined our national security at every opportunity and has always represented a threat to US citizens in Cuba, so it is not surprising that Havana cannot protect and guarantee the security of US personnel according to their obligations. under the Vienna agreement. We must ensure that the necessary policies are implemented to guarantee the safety of our government personnel and of all US citizens abroad. ” The representatives are Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Rep., FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (Rep., FL), Carlos Curbelo (Rep., FL), Alex Mooney (Rep., WVA) and Albio Sires (Dem., NJ).
Ramirez Cañedo, Making the pretext, a constant in US policy in Cuba, Granma (Oct. 31, 2017), http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2017-10-31/fabricando-el-pretexto-una-constante-en-la-politica-de-eeuu-hacia-cuba-31-10-2017-22-10-12
Press release, Ros-Lehtinen, Sires, Diaz-Balart, Curbello, Mooney Request GAO to Investigate State Department Response on Attacks on Diplomats of the United States in Cuba (Oct. 31, 2017), https://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/ros-lehtinen-sires-diaz-balart-curbelo-mooney-solicitan-la-gao-investigar-respuesta.
International Conference of Medical Experts Rejects U.S. Claims of Acoustic Attacks
On November 13 Cuba’s National Center of Minimally Access Surgery held the First International Workshop on Endoscopic Surgery with participants from Cuba, the U.S., Mexico, Austira and othe nations.
The Declaration of the Cuban Society of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery stated: “We reject the accusations about the alleged sonic attacks and we urge them to show some medical evidence that supports such accusation. ”
Dr. Nadia Caballero of the Chicago Nasal and Sinus Center and Co-Director of this Workshop, said, “As a doctor I believe that there is not enough scientific evidence to make these conclusions so abruptly.”
Dr. Adolfo Hidalgo González, Vice President of the Cuban Society of Otolaryngology and Head of the Department of Otolaryngology at the National Center for Minimally Access Surgery, stressed that with regard to the alleged acoustic incidents, Cuba’s position is fully supported by the fact that these attacks have no logical or scientific basis that can justify the symptoms described by US officials.
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Reject prestigious Cuban otolaryngologists and foreigners alleged acoustic attacks in Cuba, CubaDebate (Nov. 13, 2017), http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2017/11/13/rechazan-prestigiosos-otorrinolaringologos-cubanos-y-extranjeros-supuestos-ataques-acusticos-en-cuba/#.WgrvjBNSzj0
Cuba Establishes Campaign Against Alleged Acoustic Attacks
On November 14, Cuba established a webpage to present how the alleged acoustic attacks on U.S. diplomats in Havana have no scientific validity: The Acoustic Attacks and Science. It has articles and interviews, statements of organizations and other items.
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The Acoustic Attacks and Science, https://supuestosataques.redciencia.cu/en/
Havana structures a campaign to try to deny the ‘acoustic attacks,’ Diario de Cuba (Nov. 15, 2017), http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1510703374_35325.html
Members of the Committee of Cuba Experts who will lead the Online Debate Forum, CubaDebate (Nov. 14, 2017), http://razonesdecuba.cubadebate.cu/noticias/miembros-del-comite-de-expertos-cubanos-que-participaran-en-el-foro-debate-online/
Farińas & Gómez, Science v. Manipulation in the alleged incidents with US diplomats in Cuba, Granma (Nov. 14, 2017), http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2017-11-14/ciencia-vs-manipulacion-en-los-supuestos-incidentes-con-diplomaticos-estadounidenses-en-cuba-14-11-2017-23-11-19