Kamala Harris' trip to Southeast Asia has been delayed for hours on Tuesday by what authorities believe is a probable case of Havana syndrome, a strange ailment that US diplomatic and intelligence personnel have suffered since 2016 Harris, who began the trip on Friday, was due to take off from Singapore at 4:00 pm (local time) for Vietnam. However, the journalists who accompanied her were taken back to the hotel of the procession just as they were on their way to the airport. Air Force Two, the plane carrying Harris, took off from Paya Lebar air base after 7:00 p.m. The White House has not revealed who the victims of the so-called sonic attack have been, but it has been ruled out that they are part of the group of escorts or that they were employees of Harris's office.
More information
The mystery of the sonic attacks on US diplomats
A report uncovers Trump's mistakes in handling the "sonic attack"
The main evidence of the "sonic attack" was the buzzing of crickets
The silence of the vice president's entourage suggested that the delay was due to a health problem for Harris herself, 56 years old.
The State Department, however, cleared up the doubts with a brief statement that assured that the vice president was informed of "a report of a possible abnormal health incident in Hanoi."
Harris, however, decided to continue the official visit to Vietnam after hearing the news.
Hanoi represents an important enclave for the vice president, who seeks to bolster Washington's allies in the Joe Biden government's fight to counter China's growing influence.
The brief communication from the State Department has not reported who was the victim of the alleged attack. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said an intelligence assessment gave the green light for Harris to go ahead with his tour, the second since Democrats came to power in late January. Psaki has ruled out that the victim was part of the entourage and that Harris has not been in contact with the person who has presented the symptoms, described as severe headaches, nausea, hearing a sharp sound and pressure inside the head. Authorities,
The Washington Post
notes
, say the Hanoi legation has reported two unrelated cases of Havana syndrome over the past week.
The Biden administration has decided to take seriously these mysterious ailments that have recently affected US officials in Germany, Austria, Russia and China, as well as Cuba, the country where the attacks were first recorded, during the presidency of Donald Trump. William Burns, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, acknowledged in late July that from the first day in office he began to interview victims of these "incidents." The official, a career diplomat, has visited the Walter Reed military hospital, where patients are treated, and has vowed to triple the medical staff caring for CIA victims to reduce the waiting time for treatment from eight weeks. two.
In five months in office, Burns has spent considerable time understanding these attacks that have affected "a couple hundred in the United States government and the whole world."
Half have harmed officials from the CIA's extensive intelligence network or their families, Burns told public radio in his first public interview.
To try to get to the bottom of the matter, the director has created a task force to investigate who is behind the attacks.
The group is led by a counter-terrorism veteran who was part of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden 10 years ago.
Join EL PAÍS now to follow all the news and read without limits
Subscribe here
The determination by Executive Biden seeks to correct Washington's inaction after the 2016 attacks. A declassified 2018 report criticized the Trump administration, which reduced consular personnel in the Cuban capital by 60% without having proof that the Castroism was behind the attacks.
"We do not know the reason for these incidents, when they really began, or who did it," stated the document, which among its conclusions criticized the former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, for not initiating an investigation after the complaint of the first victims.
Five years later, these strange attacks are still shrouded in mystery.
Follow all the international information on
and
, or in
our weekly newsletter
.
