RTC Director

Canada pulls families of diplomats out of Cuba over mysterious illness

Canada announced Monday it was bringing home the families of its diplomats in Cuba, after a year-long investigation into a mysterious illness afflicting Canadian and US officials failed to reveal a cause.

The number of Canadian envoys and family members with symptoms, meanwhile, has risen from eight to 10, a senior official told a media briefing. Twenty-seven had been tested.

"The cause (of their symptoms) remains unknown but could be human-made," the government concluded.

In a statement, the government said: "Arrangements will be made to support our diplomatic staff and their families returning to Canada in the coming weeks, as well as for those families who had expected to be posted to Cuba this summer."

Otherwise, "regular embassy operations will continue," it said, adding that it does not believe there are any risks for Canadian tourists in Cuba.

Canadian and US authorities had initially suspected a "sonic attack" or a "mass psychosomatic incident," which led to heightened diplomatic tensions between Washington and the Caribbean island nation. But those are "now considered unlikely," the senior official said.

American doctors and officials have pointed to "a new type of a possible acquired brain injury" outlined in a February issue of Journal of the American Medical Association by health experts at the University of Pennsylvania, who treated 21 US diplomats.

Canada has accepted that theory.

The symptoms included dizziness, headaches and a lack of ability to concentrate. "In some cases the symptoms have appeared to lessen in intensity, before reasserting themselves," the government said.

Those who were afflicted included global affairs, immigration and national defence staff at the embassy as well as their spouses and children.

An environmental assessment in March of diplomatic staff quarters where the illness appeared to have been centred, including air and water tests, "did not indicate anything that could point to a cause."

The last two cases in August and December involved individuals who reported having sensed what they described as waves of pressure.

Unlike their American counterparts who suffered injuries resembling brain trauma, however, no Canadian envoy reported hearing any suspicious sound prior to falling ill. One Canadian described hearing a high pitched noise like a sheet of metal being flexed, but they did not suffer any sickness.

Initially US officials suspected the Americans had been targeted by some sort of acoustic weapon, although in public senior officials were more cautious, speaking of "health attacks."

More recent US media reports suggest that FBI agents dispatched to Havana have not been able to find any evidence to support the acoustic or sonic weapon theory, either.

An investigation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in collaboration with US and Cuban authorities continues.

Ottawa noted it has received "close cooperation" from the Cuban authorities since the health concerns first surfaced in April 2017.
 

by RTC Director

St Lucia PM worried about ongoing situation in Venezuela

The St Lucia government on Monday said it remains 'extremely concerned' about the ongoing political and economic situation in Venezuela after Trinidad and Tobago reported that a number of Venezuelans were entering the oil-rich twin island republic illegally and seeking asylum.

“Trinidad, Colombia, the rest of Latin America, have for the past couple of years been feeling the impact. Thousands of people, if not millions of people are migrating from Venezuela and as the situation continues to worsen, this becomes even a greater threat to the region and I am very concerned as to the impact here in St Lucia,” Prime Minister Allen Chastanet told reporters.

The Acting Chief Immigration Officer in Trinidad and Tobago, Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews, last week told a select Joint Committee of Parliament that an estimated 2,000 Venezuelans have applied for asylum there in recent months.

The committee was told that in 2015, there were 29 male Venezuelan detainees, but one year later the figure had risen to 125 including 97 females. Last year, there were 45 men and 82 women. She said that on a weekly basis, between 150 to 200 Venezuelans come here by sea, some of them, illegally.

Chastanet told reporters that ever since his ruling United Workers Party (UWP) came into office over a year ago, security has remained the major priority for the island particularly as it relates to the ongoing situation in Venezuela.

“We are only six hours away by a fast boat from Venezuela, so we're very vulnerable,” he said, expressing concern also at the “deteriorating” economic and political situation in the South American country.

He said that criminals appear to be doing what they want and people were using Venezuela as a transhipment point for drugs from Colombia into Venezuela and the Caribbean.

“We have seen a huge influx of drugs and arms associated with Venezuela,” Chastanet said, adding that the security situation in the hemisphere could be affected if the situation in Venezuela continues 'unabated.'

Chastanet, who has long been a critic of the situation in Caracas, said that human rights were also being affected and that some were living in denial and pretending it is propaganda to suggest that there is a problem in Venezuela.

“People would not just be leaving that country if in fact it was just propaganda. There is a problem, and we are hoping that the government in Venezuela would recognise that there is a problem and part of that problem is when you go against your own rule of law and your own constitution,” Chastanet said.

He insisted that Castries was aware of the long standing friendship with Caracas, adding “their goodwill to us is not what is in question.

“What is in question is what they are currently doing. The impact it is having on their country and the security risk that they are creating for the rest of us,” he added.
 

Source-CMC

by RTC Director