While Donald Trump and the State Department publicly spar over whether or not Cuba is to blame for the mysterious sonic attacks against U.S. diplomats, one thing is clear: this isn’t new. According to the Associated Press, American tourists like Chris Allen, who visited the island nation in 2015, have apparently been experiencing strange noises and suffering symptoms similar to those described in more recent cases. Unfortunately, investigators pouring over health records, sound recordings, and additional evidence still haven’t figured out what’s happening, and why.
Allen, who stayed at the exact same hotel American diplomats were staying at when they became sick, told the AP he “had cut short his trip to Cuba two years earlier after numbness spread through all four of his limbs within minutes of climbing into bed.” In an interview, the South Carolina native said, “It was so noticeable and it happened so quickly that it was all I could focus on and it really, really frightened me.” After leaving the county immediately, Allen then “then spent months and thousands of dollars undergoing medical tests as his symptoms continued to recur.”
The AP suggests other American tourists have come forward with accounts similar to Allen’s (and the aforementioned diplomats), but it appears an unnamed FBI agent was also recently affected:
The AP has learned that an FBI agent sent down to Cuba this year was alarmed enough by an unexplained sound in his hotel that he sought medical testing to see whether he was the latest victim of what some U.S. officials suspect are “sonic attacks.” Whether the FBI agent was really affected is disputed.
Since the investigation into what specifically happened to U.S. diplomats is still ongoing, the AP reports officials with the FBI and the State Department aren’t yet willing to comment. However, a few sources did reveal that a doctor recently sent to Cuba to diagnose and treat the affected diplomats was himself struck by the sonic attacks. The State Department has since issued a travel advisory, warning all American citizens not to visit Cuba until notified otherwise.
(Via Associated Press)