US espionage concludes that there are no indications of a “foreign adversary” in the Havana syndrome

The US Embassy in Havana, in a picture from November 2021. ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI (REUTERS)

An exhaustive investigation into the so-called

has concluded that it is "very unlikely" that a foreign agent was responsible for the ailments (a picture of migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness) that diplomats and security agents American intelligence have reported during their work in legations abroad.

Identified for the first time among officials of the US Embassy in the Cuban capital in 2016, it has afflicted diplomats, officials and expatriate family members ever since, and continues to do so today.

Declassified documents published this Wednesday exclude the possibility that the aforementioned picture was the result of "a weapon or device" used by a "foreign adversary", it says without specifying which one, capable of causing symptoms compatible with the syndrome.

The detailed evaluation of the cases by US intelligence has not found "credible evidence" about the intentional action of third countries or enemy entities, and tarnishes the widespread theory that Russia or another country could have been orchestrating a global campaign of attacks to Americans by some form of electromagnetic energy.

In the framework of the investigation, which has lasted for more than six years, the seven US intelligence agencies even considered the possibility that extraterrestrials were responsible for the syndrome, but they immediately ruled it out, a reporter explained to journalists today. official at CIA headquarters in Virginia.

So, once the esoteric clue had been eliminated, everything seemed to point to Russia or one of its satellites, with Cuba at the forefront, to explain episodes that seemed to come out of the most tense years of the Cold War.

However, as early as January 2022, a CIA source suggested that Russia or another “foreign actor” was unlikely to cause most of the anomalous disturbances.

The same source, when describing the conclusions of an interim report on the aforementioned table, pointed out that the majority of the cases, slightly more than 1,500 including some denounced this year, "can be reasonably explained by medical conditions or environmental and technical factors, or by even the existence of previously undiagnosed diseases”.

President Joe Biden's administration had come under pressure to answer the mystery from those who reported suffering from the syndrome and its many supporters, including some members of Congress.

Last year, the president enacted the

, which compensated people who had suffered injuries compatible with what the government has called "abnormal health incidents."

The investigation has not found common medical explanations for all the symptoms reported either.

According to the declassified documentation, the seven US intelligence agencies that participated in the investigation had different levels of confidence in the subject of the investigations.

Two of them had moderate to high confidence in the key finding of the "unlikelihood" of a

foreign

action, another three had moderate confidence, and the remaining two had low confidence "based on data collection gaps and their evaluation of the tests.

"We cannot link a foreign adversary to any incident," concluded one of the two intelligence officials who reported to journalists today.

The investigation, in which hundreds of intelligence agents, administration experts and outsiders have participated, and which has covered more than 90 countries, also examined reports prior to 2016 on similar cadres, but according to one of the officials cited, they did not Sufficient data could be collected on the oldest cases.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the work of the country's broad intelligence community, has said the seven agencies will continue to study incidents and respond to individuals who report new cases of the syndrome.

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