Page 35 - 101917

Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 102 ~ 35 of 63
Cuba’s government, which declined to comment for this story, vehemently denies involvement or knowl- edge of the attacks. Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba’s rst vice president and presumably its next leader, last week called the allegations “bizarre nonsense without the slightest evidence, with the perverse intention of discrediting Cuba’s impeccable behavior.”
When Allen visited Havana three years ago, the sicknesses and political drama were all still in the distant future.
After spending his rst day walking the city, he checked into room 1414 of the recently refurbished Hotel Capri. Within minutes of going to bed, he started losing feeling.
The tingling originated in his toes, like that prickly feeling when your foot falls asleep. It spread into his ankles and calves, then to his ngertips. He got up to investigate, and the sensation went away. He got back in bed. The tingling returned, reaching his hands, forearms, ears, cheek and neck.
Allen assumed he’d never identify the cause of all his trouble. Then in September, the AP revealed the hotel where he stayed was the site of other puzzling events — later declared “attacks” by U.S. of cials — that left embassy staffers with their own set of varying and seemingly inscrutable symptoms.
“I wanted to waive a ag and be like, I know this, I know what it is like to stay there and have some- thing weird happen to your body and not be able to explain it,” Allen said in an hour-long interview in his of ce in Charleston.
While the State Department says it’s not aware of any tourists being attacked, it has given credence to the notion that the unidenti able danger could potentially ensnare any American who sets foot on the island. Its extraordinary warnings last month noted that assaults have occurred at popular tourist hotels, including the Capri, and that the U.S. is no position to guarantee anyone’s safety.
Among the hundreds of thousands of Americans who’ve thronged to Cuba in recent years, Allen isn’t the only tourist who believes he was attacked.
The State Department has received reports of several citizens who visited Cuba and say they’ve devel- oped symptoms similar to what embassy victims experienced. The government says it can’t verify their accounts, but hasn’t indicated it’s trying hard to do so. Asked if anyone is investigating such reports, the State Department said its advice to concerned tourists is to “consult a medical professional.”
Since the AP began reporting on the Cuba attacks, roughly three dozen American citizens have contacted the news agency to say they believe they may have been affected by the same or related phenomena. The AP has not published those accounts, because closer examination gave ample reason to doubt their situations were connected.
Allen’s case is different.
He stayed on the 14th oor of the same Havana hotel where U.S. government workers have been at- tacked, including on an upper oor. He described sudden-onset symptoms that began in his hotel bed, but disappeared in other parts of the room — similar to accounts given by U.S. government workers who described attacks narrowly con ned to just parts of rooms. They also spoke of being hit at night, in bed.
And medical records show Allen conveyed consistent, detailed descriptions of what he experienced to at least six physicians — almost two years before the public knew anything about the attacks.
Still, other parts of Allen’s story don’t neatly align with what embassy workers have reported.
The U.S. has said the attacks started in 2016, two years after Allen’s Cuba visit.
His primary complaints of numbness and tingling aren’t known to have been reported by the govern-
ment victims, though their symptoms, too, have varied widely and included many neurological problems. Allen also didn’t recount hearing the blaring, agonizing sound — a recording of which the AP published last week — that led investigators to suspect a sonic weapon. Then again, neither did many of the 22
“medically con rmed” government victims.
When Allen traveled to Havana for a long weekend of sightseeing, Americans were still prohibited from
visiting under U.S. travel restrictions that were later eased. He booked ights through Mexico using a Canadian travel company that speci cally recommended he stay at Capri, travel records show.
Whatever happened on his rst night in Havana, it came back the next evening. Again the numbness set in within minutes of getting into bed, this time stronger and in more parts of his body. It didn’t go away.