A Peculiarly Aggravated Hardship Post

"[Their symptoms are comparable to head injuries suffered as a result of a car crash] where you have gone high speed to stopping instantly with airbags deploying."
"I know many different things can cause injury to the brain ... however, this sounds and looks like trauma. It looks like a concussion. What caused it, I have no idea."
"I am interested in the cause. Normally the trauma is easy to identify. It helps me with prognosis. With this I can't even speculate, I just don't know the trauma."
Dr. Shawn Marshall, medical director, Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, The Ottawa Hospital

A man walks beside Canada's embassy in Havana, Cuba. Desmond Boylan/The Canadian Press

A year and a half ago it was revealed that American and Canadian diplomats serving their countries' embassies in Cuba had been struck by a series of conditions mysteriously contracted. There was no detectable physical force that assailed them, rather some mentioned that they became conscious of strange sounds impacting their hearing for which they were unable to account, and soon afterward stranger symptoms occurred in a range of effects from dizziness to forgetfulness, extreme fatigue and generalized unwellness.

Medical attention was required and it was given but the source of the illness much less its impact continued to puzzle doctors. People suffering various symptoms still remain affected a full year and more on. Some are unable to return to work. Tests indicate that they have suffered brain trauma of some kind from some unknown source. But the answers remain elusive. And the two missions remain operational. Now Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs has announced that another -- the thirteenth Canadian -- diplomat has returned to Canada struck with the same symptoms.

Both governments continue to study the situation, trying to understand just what is now being referred to as "Havana syndrome" is. There have been few answers that can be relied upon to explain the nature of the attacks and who is responsible for them. The government of Cuba attests that it is as puzzled as any of those affected and has stated its willingness to cooperate in any way it possibly can with the U.S. and Canadian investigators. Speculation has gone further afield, to China or Russia.

Given the Russian Federation's penchant for mischief it seems likely, though logically improbable, that Russian President Vladimir Putin who enjoys nothing more than causing consternation to the global community by his volatile and disturbingly violent moves is likely to be involved. A man who walks away from sanctions imposed because he orders another country's territory invaded and its border altered to benefit Russia, who sends military personnel and weaponry to support insurgents, who dispatches assassins to another country, and whose chief of secret service suddenly dies is capable of anything.

Both the U.S. and Canada believe their diplomats have been targeted using an unknown technology, and both the FBI and RCMP are investigating. Some feel microwaves causing sonic attacks are involved, an advanced technology not known to researchers. The attacks all occurred at homes where diplomats were living in Havana. Canada made changes at the mission after 12 of its diplomats and family members including children were attacked; for one thing Havana was changed to an "unaccompanied" post; family members no longer encouraged to join diplomats.


Some of the victims describe a strange sound they likened to "sheet metal in the wind", and then their noses began bleeding. Some struggle to cope with daily life and others have returned to work, but all reported a range of symptoms known to occur with traumatic head injuries; dizziness, difficulty walking, headaches, lack of concentration. These are the types of symptoms ordinarily associated with post-concussion syndrome, despite an absence of physical trauma.

Dr. Marshall has been treating some of the affected diplomats posted to Havana and returned to Canada. Though American researchers point to microwaves as unconventional weapons possibly the cause of the trauma, nothing has been confirmed. Dr. Marshall is in touch with researchers in the U.S. himself intrigued and anxious to know the cause. Moreover, Dr. Marshall believes that among those he is treating some were exposed more than once.

These were strange incidents occurring at night when the diplomatic staff and their families were in their private residences. Afterward they began experiencing difficulty walking, stumbling, unable to tolerate light and noise and had problems sleeping. Though the syndrome still affects some of his patients dramatically, Dr. Marshall is encouraged that others are improving. Therapies include pain medication for headaches and difficulties with sleep; counselling for irritability and mood problems; vision therapy and physiotherapy.


Sources within the government state that of the dozen Canadians previously affected, one reported feeling a sensation of waves or pulses arriving strangely through the atmosphere before symptoms occurred whereas in all other instances, those affected became aware of their injuries only when they began to experience symptoms. In the latest case, the individual was unable to recall any particular incident that might have triggered his symptoms.

A view of the Canadian Embassy in Havana, Cuba. A 13th person has reported 'unusual health symptoms' while stationed there. (Franklin Reyes/Associated Press)