The CIA rules out that the Havana syndrome was a foreign operation

Tourists in a vintage car pass by the side of the US embassy in Havana (Cuba). Alexandre Meneghini (Reuters)

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded in a report, to which

that the mysterious headaches, dizziness and nausea suffered by US diplomats, in a phenomenon known like the Havana syndrome, they were not the product of an operation organized by Russia or other foreign agents for the purpose of gathering intelligence information.

For US espionage, most of the more than 1,000 cases reported and known to Washington can be justified by environmental causes, undiagnosed medical conditions, or sheer exhaustion. The Agency flatly rejects that the mysterious ailment that has attacked US spies and diplomats since 2016 is due to a global campaign carried out by a foreign power.

It is erroneously known as the Havana syndrome because the first incidents were reported on the island of Cuba at the end of 2016. But since then they have been sprouting in places as far away as Austria, Colombia, Russia, Australia, China or Uzbekistan. Last fall, Congress passed, with the support of Democrats and Republicans, a law to financially support the victims of the unidentified health incident, some of whom have not been able to return to work.

What the CIA does not rule out is that there is foreign involvement in two dozen cases that cannot be explained and are still being investigated. But "in hundreds of other cases of possible symptoms, the agency has found an alternative and credible explanation," according to the New York newspaper. For Washington, these cases, which can be framed under the Havana syndrome, offer a unique possibility to obtain clues as to whether a foreign power is responsible for some of the unexplained health incidents.

The CIA has never directly accused Russia or any other power of being responsible, but some officials, particularly at the Pentagon, said they believed there was evidence of the involvement of Moscow's spy agencies. When CIA Director William Burns traveled to Moscow last December to warn Russia against invading Ukraine, he put the issue on the table and declared that if Moscow was behind the microwave attacks there would be consequences.

The document, created for internal use, has left some of those affected frustrated, who perceive it as a bolt on a still unsolved case. The CIA report "cannot and should not be the last word on the case," some of those affected have told the Times in a statement. Burns pointed out that "although we have reached some significant internal findings, we are not done with the matter," the CIA director said in a statement to the New York newspaper. "We will continue with the mission to investigate these incidents," he added.

Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA agent, interviewed last fall by this newspaper, suffered symptoms of Havana syndrome on a trip to Moscow in 2017. For a 26-year-old spy in areas such as the Middle East and Afghanistan, "it is essential to continue investigating the cases that remain unsolved.

“It took 10 years to find Osama bin Laden,” Polymeropoulos told the Times.

"I would just ask for patience and that both the agency and the Department of Defense continue to investigate."

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