Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement on October 3: “The decision was made due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention. This order will ensure equity in our respective diplomatic operations.”
At least 21 people working at the US’s embassy in Havana have reported health problems, ranging from mild brain trauma and deafness to dizziness and nausea.
Earlier reports suggested sonic attacks were to blame, but nothing has been proven.
Havana denies targeting embassy staff, and the US has not blamed the Cuban government for the suspected attacks.
Rex Tillerson added in his latest statement: “We continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and will continue to co-operate with Cuba as we pursue the investigation into these attacks.”
Two Cuban diplomats have been expelled by Washington after US embassy staff in Havana suffered mysterious physical symptoms, the US state department announced.
It was not immediately clear what had happened, but spokeswoman Heather Nauert said there were no “definitive answers about the source or cause”.
One government official quoted by Reuters said that some staff had suffered hearing loss.
Cuba’s foreign ministry announced it was investigating the allegations.
Cuba called the expulsion of its staff unjustified but said it was willing to co-operate with Washington to clarify what had happened.
The ministry said: “Cuba has never, nor would ever, allow the Cuban territory to be used for any kind of action against accredited diplomats or their families.”
It was suggested the hearing loss could have been caused by some kind of sonic device placed outside the diplomats’ homes, emitting inaudible sound waves that can cause deafness.
Heather Nauert said staff began complaining of the strange symptoms late last year.
While they were not life-threatening, she revealed that a number of people had been brought home to the US as a result.
Heather Nauert said the government was taking it “very seriously, and there is an investigation currently under way”.
It is understood that the two expelled Cuban diplomats left Washington DC in May..
The US and Cuba only re-established ties in 2015, following 50 years of hostilities between the two countries.
Cuba has announced the appointment of Jose Cabanas as the new ambassador to the US – the first since 1961 – as part of the ongoing thaw in relations between the two countries.
Jose Ramon Cabanas is a veteran diplomat who has run Cuba’s “interests section” in Washington since 2012.
The diplomat was received at the White House with 15 other new diplomats from other countries.
Washington has yet to make an announcement about who will serve as its new ambassador in Cuba.
The announcement comes ahead of a visit to Cuba by Pope Francis and days before Cuban President Raul Castro goes to New York to address the United Nations.
Raul Castro’s visit will mark the first time a president of Cuba has publically set foot on American soil since 1995 when President Fidel Castro, his older brother, spoke before the UN.
In July 2015, Cuba and the US formally re-established their relations.
The process began publically when Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced simultaneously that they planned to set a new course on US-Cuba relations.
Soon after, the US traded three Cubans they had convicted on spying charges for Alan Gross, an American aid worker accused of espionage by a Cuban court.
Since then US and Cuban delegations have met several times to discuss a range of issues.
Jose Cabanas is a career diplomat trained in Havana. He served as vice minister of foreign relations and has occupied various high level posts in several countries.
Cuba and the US have opened full embassies in Havana and Washington.
Just after midnight local time, the diplomatic missions of each country became full embassies.
The two countries formally restored diplomatic relations after an agreement struck in December 2014 putting aside decades of hostility came into force.
Secretary of State John Kerry is due to hold talks with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez later in the day in Washington.
Despite the historic shift, Cuba and the US admit to lingering difficulties.
There were still “issues that we don’t see eye to eye on”, a US state department spokesman said.
Restrictions on Americans wanting to travel to Cuba remain in place, as does the wider US trade embargo banning most American companies from doing business in Cuba.
Cuba says the embargo – which it calls a blockade – is hugely damaging to its economy.
Cuban President Raul Castro has urged President Barack Obama to lift it, calling it the main stumbling block towards normalizations. But the US Congress would have to vote on the issue.
Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the move towards diplomatic ties in December 2014.
The United States and Cuba are to announce the opening of embassies in each other’s capitals, a senior US official has said.
The embassies opening is a major step in re-establishing diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba which were severed in 1961.
Relations had been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo with Cuba.
The US and Cuba agreed to normalize relations at the end of 2014.
Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro held historic talks in April 2015.
Since 1977, the US and Cuba have operated diplomatic missions called “interests sections” in each other’s capitals under the legal protection of Switzerland. However, they do not enjoy the same status as full embassies.
Photo Reuters
US officials said President Barack Obama would make a formal announcement from the White House on July 1.
It is still not clear exactly what the date will be for opening the embassies, but it is likely to be in mid-July.
The US State Department must give Congress two weeks’ warning before the embassy can open.
It is the latest major milestone in a thawing process between the two countries’ relations, which started with secret negotiations and was announced last December.
In April, Barack Obama and Raul Castro met for the first formal talks between the two countries’ leaders in more than half a century.
A month later, the US removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Plans to resume ferry and air services between the US and Cuba were also announced.
Despite the new transport links, a Cuba travel ban is still in place for US citizens.
Cuba is also still subject to a US arms embargo which has been in place since 1962, though President Barack Obama has urged Congress to lift it.
The US broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1959 after Fidel Castro and his brother Raul led a revolution toppling US-backed President Fulgencio Batista. The Castro brothers established a revolutionary socialist state with close ties to the Soviet Union.
In December 2014, Barack Obama and Raul Castro made a surprise announcement saying they would seek to re-establish diplomatic ties, ending more than 50 years of ill-will.
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