WASHINGTON _ It is a mysterious episode ripped from the pages of a Cold War spy novel.
Despite ostensibly improved ties between the U.S. and Cuban governments, the State Department on Wednesday confirmed it had expelled two Cuban diplomats from Washington because of an "incident" in Havana that harmed U.S. personnel there.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert would not provide details, except to say it had caused medical but non-life-threatening problems for an unspecified number of U.S. Embassy personnel based in Havana.
The Associated Press, one of the few Western news outlets with offices in the Cuban capital, reported from Havana that the injuries may have been caused by sonic equipment that Cuban intelligence officers installed in the U.S. Embassy or residences of its staff.
This would not be unusual. Through the decades, even when the United States and Cuba did not have formal diplomatic relations, Cuban intelligence agencies specialized in surveilling Americans stationed on, or visiting, the island.
That the spy equipment would cause harm, however, is new, and the reason was not immediately clear.
"Some U.S. government personnel who were working at our embassy in Havana, Cuba, on official duty ... reported some incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms," Nauert said. "We don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents."
She added, "We're taking that situation seriously, and it's under investigation right now."
She said two Cuban diplomats were expelled from Washington in retaliation in late May.
The incidents date to late last year, she said.
The U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana was only elevated to status of embassy in 2015, when then-President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro re-established full relations after half a century of Cold War hostilities. Before then it was a low-level facility with a skeleton crew.
The AP said at least one of the diplomatic personnel reported hearing loss.
"What this requires is providing medical examinations to these people," Nauert said. "Initially, when they'd started reporting what I will just call symptoms, it took time to figure out what it was, and this is still ongoing. So we're monitoring it. We provide medical care and concern to those who believe that they have been affected by it. And we take this extremely seriously."
President Donald Trump announced a couple of months ago he was rolling back many of the advances with Cuba that Obama had overseen. However, he has yet to enact anything concrete.
