Adding to the worsening US tensions with the small island nation, the US State Department has announced the expulsion of 15 Cuban diplomats from the United States Tuesday, a move related to the US having previously removed some of its diplomats from the island.
US diplomats stationed in Cuba have suffered hearing related health problems, leading to speculations of a “sonic attack.” US officials have conceded they don’t think this was actually a Cuban government attack, and presented the drawdown of their personnel as precautionary amid an investigation.
State Department officials say the expulsions of the Cuban officials are intended to lead to “equitable staffing levels” at Cuba’s Embassy and the American Embassy, even though Cuba obviously didn’t expel anybody in the first place.
Cuban officials criticized the move as unjustified, noting that the US has been unwilling to cooperate with Cuba’s own investigation into the sonic attack. The Foreign Ministry accused the US of “politicizing the matter.”