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ECLECTIC RANT: Suspicious U.S. diplomat illnesses may be a ruse to end U.S.-Cuba détente

Ralph E. Stone
Friday October 13, 2017 - 04:17:00 PM

In June 2017, President Donald Trump laid out his new Cuba policy in a speech in Miami by signing an executive order rolling back parts of former president Obama’s historic diplomatic breakthrough between the two former Cold War foes. Trump called it a “terrible and misguided deal.” But Trump did leave in place in place many of Obama’s changes, including the reopened U.S. embassy in Havana. 

On December 17, 2014, Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the beginning of a process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the U.S., ending 54 years of hostility between the two nations. In March 2015, Obama became the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since 1928. Later full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established and travel and trade restrictions were eased 

Supposedly, in September 2017, twenty-two U.S.diplomats in Havana began getting sick with headaches, dizziness and hearing loss, allegedly caused by some kind of sonic wave machine. No other employees or residents of the hotel where some of these diplomats were staying reported similar illnesses. As far as I know, none of the alleged victims of the illness have been named. 

In response, Trump ordered the withdrawal of all nonessential personnel from the embassy. because Cuba did not do enough to protect foreign diplomats. If there is a health threat, that means essential personnel were left behind in harm's way. In October 2017, Trump expelled 15 Cuban diplomats, in response to this mysterious affliction. 

The State Department also issued an advisory that Americans should not travel to Cuba. 

The Cuban government has denied any involvement in the mysterious ailment and faulted the American government for not reporting the ailments earlier to authorities in Cuba. And the Cuban government has been denied access to the affected American personnel and the doctors who treated them. Thus, Cuba has been stymied in its ability to help with the investigation. 

The Cuban government accused the Trump administration of using the health crisis as an excuse to drive out Cuban diplomats without any proof that Cuba was responsible.  

It all sounds very suspicious. Is the alleged "health threat" to U.S. diplomats in Cuba a ruse to keep Trump’s campaign promise to roll back the U.S. engagement with Cuba? If so, this may be the beginning of the end of the U.S.-Cuba détente started by Obama. 

If not a ruse to end détente, why did the Trump administration act so quickly to retaliate before the investigation was completed? Isolating Cuba has not worked. Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959 and then handed power to his brother Raúl in 2008. Thus, the Castro brothers have outlasted eleven U.S. presidents; Raúl Castro will likely outlast Trump.