Payments to Havana syndrome victims will continue indefinitely — RT World News

The U.S. government will continue to pay benefits to employees with the mysterious condition known as Havana syndrome, a State Department spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal on Friday, citing a 2021 indefinite law. allowing government agencies to provide financial support to those affected.

Anyone who encounters the “necessary criteria” are eligible for a monthly financial benefit, reimbursement of medical expenses and workers’ compensation, according to the spokesperson – even though US intelligence agencies this week completely denied the idea that the condition is some kind of attack by foreign powers.

Wednesday’s report found “no model to link reported cases to a potential cause”, nor any evidence to support the affected employees’ claims that they were targeted by an ultra-high-tech energy or sonic weapon. It did “very unlikely” that a rival state could be the cause of the victims’ health problems, especially because Russia and China – Washington’s enemies of the day – were not known to possess energy weapons capable of causing such evils , according to the report.

Havana syndrome is associated with symptoms such as dizziness, headache, fatigue, anxiety, cognitive difficulties, nausea, and memory loss, often accompanied by a high-pitched sound. Some diplomats have even quit the foreign service, saying illness has kept them from working.

While previous efforts to solve the mystery of Havana syndrome have determined that the cause of the strange sound associated with the symptoms is a local cricket species, the latest report has blamed pre-existing conditions, environmental factors and “conventional” illnesses for patient discomfort – findings almost sure to infuriate patients who already don’t think the CIA and State Department take their conditions seriously enough.

Neither the State Department nor the CIA disclosed how many employees were compensated for Havana Syndrome injuries, or how much they were paid, according to the Wall Street Journal, but a report from last year cited inside sources who said “eligible injuries” could net the bearer up to $200,000. Approximately 1,500 cases of Havana syndrome have been reported in total from 96 countries.

The disease first emerged among US diplomats at the new US Embassy in Havana in 2016 and was more recently renamed Abnormal Health Incidents as the Biden administration tried to unfreeze his predecessor’s relationship with Cuba. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio earlier this week nonetheless accused washington to use “Unsubstantiated allegations, such as ‘sound attacks’” to justify the continuation of more than half a century of brutal sanctions.