Cuban sonic attacks: What happened?
Beginning in 2016, a number of U.S. officials stationed in Cuba experienced severe health incidents with unknown causes. As the cases became public, they took on a variety of names: acoustic attacks, sonic attacks or "Havana Syndrome."
Here's exactly how it happened to career foreign service officer Audrey Lee, as described in a long-form article in The New Yorker:
At around eight o’clock, Lee washed the dishes. The kitchen lights made it hard to see out the window, but she knew that there was a wooden booth outside where Cuban police kept watch. As Lee was cleaning, she felt a sudden burst of pressure in her head, then a stabbing pain worse than any she had ever experienced. Her breath quickened and she was overcome by panic. Lee had heard rumors around the Embassy of colleagues falling victim to mysterious “sonic attacks,” but no one knew what they were or what had caused them.
At first, there were only a handful of reported cases like this, but the number steadily grew. By the end of 2017, the phenomenon wasn't just affecting American diplomats, but Canadians too. The geography soon expanded outside of Cuba: American diplomats in China were reporting similar incidents.
The health effects were not minor. MRI scans revealed brain trauma with lasting effects.
I had been traveling back and forth to Cuba throughout 2016 and 2017. Once the news broke, I wondered if I, too, had been affected. At one point I found myself alone in a government building, waiting to meet with a Cuban official. As I looked around the room, I heard a loud ringing in my ear. For a moment, I was terrified. But then the ringing went away. Was I losing my mind or was I under attack?
As many parties looked for a smoking gun, several explanations surfaced:
A deliberate attack. Politically interested parties have repeatedly suggested that a bad actor may have used an acoustic or microwave weapon of unknown design or origin. To date, no weapon seems to exist that can carry out the described attacks. Primary suspects include the Cuban government, a rogue Cuban faction, Chinese intelligence or Russian intelligence.
Singing Crickets. After embassy workers recorded what they believed to be a sonic attack, two scientists presented evidence that it was nothing more than a loud cricket of the Indies short-tailed variety.
Insecticide. Some experts suggested that the illness was caused by an extensive mosquito-spraying program for the Zika virus, producing a neurotoxic effect in those who came in contact with the insecticide.
Malfunctioning intelligence equipment. A team of computer scientists at the University of Michigan suggested that the sound and damage may have come from improperly placed or malfunctioning intelligence equipment.
Mass psychogenic illness. At least one study suggested that Havana Syndrome can be explained as a mass psychogenic illness, triggered by psychosocial stress and communicable in a specific sociocultural context.
So, what exactly happened? No one is sure. The U.S. blamed Cuba for either being the source of the attacks, or at least knowing about it. Cuba denied knowing anything, questioning whether they really even happened.
What we do know is that U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba are worse than usual. The U.S. embassy dismissed almost all of its staff in Havana and expelled two Cuban diplomats stationed in the U.S.
Three years after the first report, the case has gone cold. The Cuban and American press has lost interest. When the topic comes up in a diplomatic setting, fingers are pointed without any real sense of who is to blame. It seems there is a missing piece to the puzzle. Someone – somewhere – knows the truth...and I hope that one day they choose to speak up.
For further reading, check out The Mystery of the Havana Syndrome in The New Yorker.