Only 10 diplomatic staff left at US Embassy in Cuba

Only 10 diplomatic staff now remain at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, after a series of mysterious sonic “attacks” that lead to the U.S. reducing its presence there.

A new State Department list shows just 10 diplomats, including one consular officer, still at the embassy in Havana, without much remaining of staff who processed immigrant visas and travel requests for Cuban nationals, as first reported Saturday by the Miami Herald. 

The embassy is currently running with the lowest number of staff “necessary to perform core diplomatic and consular functions,” the department announced last month, while most remaining staff deal with maintenance and upkeep. 

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A total of 24 government employees and their spouses were harmed by what the U.S. says were a series of “health attacks,” and reported injuries such as hearing loss, migraines and mild concussions. 

The State Department maintains that it has no “definitive answers” on the cause of the symptoms, the Herald noted. Cuban officials have told the FBI that they have found no evidence that the symptoms were the result of a weaponized attack. 

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. Embassy’s staff has been withdrawn since Sept. 29. Cuba denies any involvement in the incidents, but the State Department expelled 17 Cuban diplomats from its embassy in Washington and posted an official travel warning for the island nation. 

President Trump last year rescinded former President Obama’s decision to relax relations with Cuba, a move that came before the attacks were reported.