Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview late last week that much more is expected to come to light during the Trump administration about the Havana Syndrome attacks that United States diplomats and intelligence operatives have suffered in recent years.
The attacks were initially thought to have first started in 2016 in Havana, Cuba, and include a range of neurological symptoms, including intense headaches that erupt instantly, loss of balance, memory problems, and numerous hearing issues. In some cases, the neurological damage lasted years or was permanent and forced those who were attacked to retire.
Rubio made the remarks during an interview with Catherine Herridge after the Biden administration assessed in 2023 that a foreign adversary was likely not behind the incidents and that those reporting symptoms likely had underlying health problems.
“Have directed energy weapons been used against U.S. Government personnel?” Herridge asked.
“I do not believe – and the conclusions that we’ve seen in the past, and I think evidence and time will prove me correct – that these things happened by accident, that these things were a result of mass hysteria or some pre-existing conditions,” Rubio said.
“Now, in some cases, maybe, but there – I have no doubt in my mind that something caused people to be suffering from these things – in different posts around the world, not just limited to Havana,” he said. “There’s a lot of work still going on. I think we’re going to learn a lot more about it over the next few years, as more work goes into it.”
“But I have met some of these people, I’ve interacted with them for years, and I can’t explain every case, but I think there are most definitely cases where there is no logical explanation other than the fact that some external mechanism caused them to suffer brain injuries that in many cases looked like they were hit over the head with a baseball bat or assaulted somewhere,” he continued. “We can’t ignore that.”
He said that those who were “harmed in the service of our country … deserve our ongoing support, not to be – not being accused of things like mass hysteria.”
He said that the Biden administration’s insinuation that they were faking their symptoms was “outrageous.”
“And I don’t know what the intent was behind that, but ultimately this State Department is going to be transparent with them,” he said. “Anything we know, they will know.”
“And in the meantime, we are going to assume the worst and we’re going to treat them as if they were victims,” he concluded. “No matter what, we’re going to treat them as they were people that were harmed by serving our country overseas.”
WATCH:
.@SecRubio on those affected by anomalous health incidents: “These are people we sent abroad to serve our country. They were harmed in the service of our country, and they deserve our ongoing support.” pic.twitter.com/8KAmd10iQF
— Department of State (@StateDept) February 23, 2025
