The mystery of the ‘Havana syndrome’ attacks

In late 2016, an official at the US Embassy in Cuba woke up in the middle of the night with a ‘severe pain and sensation of intense pressure in the face’. He also felt ‘a loud piercing sound in one ear… and acute disequilibrium and nausea’. A report by the National Academy of Science reported the official was left with, ‘symptoms of vestibular and cognitive dysfunction’, or in simpler terms, left totally dazed and confused.

What happened? Five years later, and with over 200 similar cases reported by American diplomatic personnel around the world, mystery and conspiracy theories swirl around the so-called ‘Havana syndrome’. As of May 2021, over 200 American government staff have been diagnosed, and the latest examples are alarmingly close to home. Last November, a National Security Council official walking in the Ellipse Park, just south of the White House, came down with symptoms. A few weeks later another member of staff, exiting the White House, was suddenly taken seriously ill, needing immediate hospitalisation.