OTTAWA, Dec 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Canada said Saturday it will send a
delegation to Cuba next week to reevaluate its presence there after another
diplomat was diagnosed with a mysterious brain injury that has affected
several dozen North American envoys to the island.
Since 2016, 13 Canadians and 25 Americans have all reported similar
unexplained symptoms, including dizziness, fatigue, headaches, hearing and
vision complications, a loss of balance, nausea and an inability to
concentrate.
“A delegation of senior officials will return to Cuba next week to review
Canada’s current operations and determine how we can further reduce the risks
to our diplomatic staff,” foreign ministry spokesman Richard Walker told AFP.
He said Canada was considering all options, without offering details.
The Canadian government said Thursday it had allowed employees currently in
Cuba to return home, if they wanted to.
Canadian and US authorities initially suspected an attack using some sort
of acoustic weapon, which led to heightened diplomatic tensions between
Washington and the Caribbean island nation. But Ottawa later concluded that
to be “unlikely.”
American doctors and officials have pointed to “a new type of a possible
acquired brain injury” outlined in a February issue of Journal of the
American Medical Association by health experts at the University of
Pennsylvania, who treated 21 US diplomats.