On September 13, 2018 a meeting took place in Washington D.C. between U.S. and Cuban expert scientists to exchange on the health symptoms reported by U.S. diplomats accredited in Havana. The Cuban multidisciplinary group of experts, made up of 9 scientists and physicians, all members of a panel at the Cuban Academy of Science, was led by Ambassador Johana Tablada, Deputy Director General for U.S. Affairs, at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Cuba in Washington D.C., José R. Cabañas. The U.S. team was led by Ambassador Kenneth Merten, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and composed of medical personnel of the U.S. Department of State.
Before the holding of these meeting, the Cuban team had reviewed the scarce information about the alleged incidents submitted by the United States Embassy, the publications by a medical team from the University of Pennsylvania, (specially an article published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the works by other scientists, as well as the conclusions of police investigations conducted separately by the authorities of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
In the meeting, the Cuban team received a summary of the information previously reported in JAMA describing the results of medical examination and some of the diplomats. The Cuban team presented their analysis of the shortcomings of this study, challenged its main conclusions and the scientific interpretation of the symptoms presented to them.
At the end of the exchange, the Cuban experts verified that the information provided is unable to support the hypothesis of health attacks and brain damage suggested so far by the Department of State, as well as the explanations of the symptoms which according to the Department of State, were reported by their diplomats.
The Cuban experts particularly reaffirmed that with the information exchanged it is not possible to demonstrate the existence of a new neurological medical syndrome of brain lesion type, nor it is possible to assert that a brain damage like those caused by a blow to the head was produced without cranial trauma. This idea is impossible.
They observed that the medical evidence presented has serious limitations. The majority of the cases described show symptoms such as: headaches, nausea, dizziness, subjective balance and sleep disorders, which are caused by functional disorders and conditions such as: hypertension, stress and many others with high prevalence in the U.S. and worldwide. The accuracy of the reports could have also been affected by the average of 203 days that lapsed from the time the alleged incidents took place to the date when medical research was conducted.
The neuro-psychological tests, considered to be more objective, were assessed with unusual criteria which, applied to a group of healthy individuals, would qualify all of them as ill. If the internationally established criteria would have been applied only two subjects could be considered afflicted, the cause of which, could be attributed to different pre-existing conditions.
According to those studies, only three individuals were found to have mild or moderate hearing loss, with each audiogram showing correspondence with three different diseases that were probably preexisting.
The neuro-images showed no evidence of brain damage. Two individuals showed mild signs and a third one showed moderate signs that, according to the JAMA report, are not specific, are present in many diseases and could be attributed to processes that occurred before those persons travelled to Cuba. It has been impossible for the Cuban experts to access these images.
The scientific studies, the Cuban police and FBI investigations, as well as the information shared by the Department of State shows a lack of evidence of any kind of attack or deliberate act. The Cuban delegation rejected categorically the use of the term attack when there is no evidence whatsoever that support the term. The US officials underscored that they did not have an explanation for the incidents.
Cuba expressed its willingness to cooperate and reiterated that it is its highest interest to find an explanation to the reports described. As of February 2017, when the U.S. Embassy in Havana informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the alleged "acoustic attacks" against some officials of said diplomatic mission, Cuba has requested and provided the highest cooperation to clarify what happened, and early on suggested to hold a meeting between medical experts from both countries.
The Cuban delegation regretted the lack of access to clinical data and to the doctors who assessed the diplomatic personnel who reported health symptoms. Nevertheless, the Cuban team considers that today’s meeting was a positive step, and yet insufficient. To date, the scientific and medical exchange has only taken place indirectly through the publication of scientific articles, political statements and regrettable press leaks.
The Cuban medical team extended an invitation to the U.S. investigation team to hold another scientific exchange in Havana in the near future that can be also attended by those professionals who treated the U.S. diplomats.
MEMBERS OF THE CUBAN TEAM OF EXPERTS WHO ATTENDED TO THE MEETING BETWEEN EXPERTS FROM CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES
1. Mitchell Joseph Valdés Sosa. PhD in Medical Sciences and Senior Researcher. General Director of the Cuban Center for Neurosciences. Coordinator of the National Group of Neurophysiology of the Ministry of Public Health. Chairman of the Latin American Society of Neurophysiology. Member Emeritus of the Cuban Academy of Sciences
2. Nelson Gómez Viera, PhD in Medical Sciences and Senior Researcher. Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology. Second Grade Specialist in Neurology and Senior Professor. Chief of the Neurology Department at the “Hermanos Ameijeiras” Hospital. Member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences.
3. Pedro Antonio Valdés Sosa. PhD in Medical Sciences, Deputy Director of the Cuban Center for Neuroscience. Member Emeritus of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. Coordinator Cuban Human Brain Mapping Project.
4. Antonio Paz Cordovéz. Second Grade Specialist in Otolaryngology. Head of the Cochlear Implant Group. President of the Cuban Society of Otolaryngology. Maitre de Stage at George Portman Institute.
5. Manuel Jorge Villar Kuscevic. PhD in Medical Sciences. Head of Otolaryngology and the Head and Neck Surgery Department at the "Enrique Cabrera" Hospital. Maitre de Stage at George Portman Institute.
6. Miguel Blanco Aspiazu. PhD in Medical Sciences. Chairman of the Cuban Society of Internal Medicine. Full Professor at the "Dr. Carlos J. Finlay” School of Medical Sciences.
7. Dionisio Zaldívar Pérez. PhD in Psychological Sciences at Havana University School of Psychology.
8. Alexis Lorenzo Ruiz. PhD in Psychological Sciences and full professor at Havana University School of Psychology.
9. Dr. Miriam de la Osa O´Reilly. Chief of the "Hermanos Ameijeiras" Hospital Psychiatric Department and president of the Cuban Association of Psychiatry.