16 diplomats injured in Cuba after enduring a "sonic" attack.

16 American and Canadian diplomats have been injured in what US officials are calling a "sonic" attack in Havana, Cuba. CBS News. The victims have suffered traumatic brain injures and nervous system damage, along with a host of more minor symptoms, including hearing loss, nausea, headaches and balance issues . Some of the effected individuals had to return to the United States for treatment. America has blamed Cuba for the attacks while the Cubans denied responsibility. The attacks occurred at the diplomats homes. 

My Comment:

What a strange story out of Cuba. I have never heard of a sonic attack before. I do know that we have used sonic weapons for crowd and riot control but as a direct weapon I haven't really seen that before. Here's a video of such a device in action:

There are some very obvious differences between the LRAD pictured above and whatever the attackers used. The most obvious is that whatever they attacker used, it was above or below the threshold of human hearing. If the attacker used this device, everyone would have known about it right away. 

My guess is that the weapon was a ultra high or ultra low frequency weapon. Such weapons would be impossible to hear, even though the power would be extremely high. I think that a low frequency weapon is a bit more likely, but I am not an expert on sonic weapons. I just know that the symptoms of exposure to low frequency sound is similar to what these people suffered. 

I don't buy Cuba's protestations of innocence. Even if they weren't responsible for the attacks themselves, there is no way they don't know who did it. Remember Cuba is a communist country with a poor history of human rights. They spy on everyone and I can't imagine that the homes of these diplomats weren't monitored 24/7/365. There would be people sitting on these houses and those agents would notice someone deploying a sonic weapon. This was allowed to happen by those spies. 

I also think that there is almost no chance of a non-government actor doing this. For one thing, I don't think any non-government terrorist groups are active in Cuba. As a communist regime, Cuba has been very effective in beating down any and all resistance groups. There just aren't any other suspects in Cuba to have pulled this attack off. 

I also think that you would need state level resources to even create a sonic weapon. The technology is new and hasn't really been used much. A terrorist group wouldn't have the resources to create one even if the plans were widely available. 

There is also the question of motive. I can't see any terror group in Cuba having any kind of motive to attack US and Canadian diplomats. The anti-Castro people would not want to attack our diplomats and I can't think of any other vigilante or political groups that would want to do so. 

Cuba, of course, does have a motive. After the thaw in relations under President Obama, things are returning to status quo. We still haven't closed the embassy under Donald Trump, but it was clear that our Cuba policy was going to be very different that it was under Obama. The relationship is tense, to say the least. 

I have no proof of this, but my guess is that the diplomats attacked were the ones that Cuba suspected were spies. Often spies work out of embassies so they have diplomatic protections in case their cover gets blown. A sonic attack would allow the Cubans to expel people they suspect of being spies even if they lack proof. The risk is that they would get caught. 

For completion's sake I have to entertain the theory that this was an accident or natural phenomenon. That seems extremely unlikely. There aren't any real sources of ultra high or low frequency sounds out there that wouldn't be extremely obvious like a factory or something. Plus, if there was something unintentional causing this it would have effected a lot more people than just US and Canadian diplomats. Any civilians in the area would have been effected as well. This was almost certainly an attack. 

So what happens next? Probably some serious consequences. Already a couple of diplomats have been expelled from the United States in retaliation for this attack. If such attacks continue I expect that we might just close the embassies again and go back to not having diplomatic relations with them...