U.S. sends nonessential staff home from Cuba

The United States began pulling all nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, on Friday amid mysterious attacks on diplomats. The embassy will continue to operate with only emergency personnel remaining. U.S. officials said the move was in response to “specific attacks” on diplomats. They said Havana will lose roughly 60 percent of embassy staff, and the U.S. will stop processing visas in Cuba indefinitely. The U.S. State Department also will caution Americans against traveling to Cuba. Former President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with the communist nation in 2015—a first since 1961. Starting in the fall of 2016, U.S. diplomats in Havana began reporting headaches, dizziness, hearing loss, and other symptoms. There have been 21 reported cases so far. U.S. officials initially suspected some sort of “sonic attack,” but investigators have yet to nail down the cause of the incidents. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made the decision to pull U.S. staff from Havana after meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla this week. Cuba has denied it is responsible for any injuries to diplomats and is allowing U.S. investigators into the country.