HAVANA Act Signed Into Law Will Further Retain Distance Between United States And Cuba- Perhaps Regardless Of Decisions Taken By Cuba. U.S. Companies On Sidelines Again.
/With the 8 October 2021 signing into law of the HAVANA Act, the Biden-Harris Administration (2021- ) and the United States Congress have continued linkage between changes to United States policies and regulations relating to the Republic of Cuba and the ongoing investigation to determine responsibility for injuries sustained by employees of the United States government first reported in 2016 at locations within the city of Havana, Republic of Cuba, and continuing in locations within multiple countries, including in August 2021 in the city of Berlin, Germany. To date, more than 200 individuals have reported injuries from “Havana Syndrome.”
With every discussion of the injuries, there is reference to the Republic of Cuba- the name of the statute deliberately guarantees that connectivity.
Further connectivity derives from once the source(s) and delivery system(s) are determined, the political question remains for the Biden-Harris Administration and the United States Congress: Assigning direct and indirect responsibility to state actor(s) and/or non-state actor(s) and what retribution, if any, to implement.
Even if the Republic of Cuba is not deemed a directly responsible party, the Biden-Harris Administration and the United States Congress will need to be convinced that the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of the Republic of Cuba, Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Cuba (MININT), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba (MINREX) a) did not have knowledge as to the source(s) of the delivery system(s) and b) why did they not have knowledge as to the source(s) of the delivery system(s).
The unresolved issues relating to the injuries serve as a political brake upon any expansion of the commercial, economic, and political relationship by the Biden-Harris Administration with the Diaz-Canel-Valdes Mesa Administration (2019- ).
For the United States, providing the Republic of Cuba with “benefit of the doubt” will unlikely be politically viable. Even the presence of irrefutable evidence supporting all or a portion of the position of the Republic of Cuba relating to knowledge of and/or ability to notify and/or prevent will likely not be easily digestible for the United States and particularly the United States Congress. For some members of the United States Congress, facts will remain immaterial to their held positions that the Republic of Cuba is a bad state actor and must continue to be punished.
For the United States business community there is additional time waiting; and expecting the Republic of Cuba will continue commercial, economic, and political infrastructure transformations which present opportunities for engagement, particularly with the re-emerging private sector (micro, small and medium-size enterprises).
The White House
Washington DC
8 October 2021
Statement of President Joe Biden on Signing HAVANA Act Into Law
“Today, I was pleased to sign the HAVANA Act into law to ensure we are doing our utmost to provide for U.S. Government personnel who have experienced anomalous health incidents. I want to thank Congress for passing it with unanimous bipartisan support, sending the clear message that we take care of our own. Civil servants, intelligence officers, diplomats, and military personnel all around the world have been affected by anomalous health incidents. Some are struggling with debilitating brain injuries that have curtailed their careers of service to our nation. Addressing these incidents has been a top priority for my Administration. We are bringing to bear the full resources of the U.S. Government to make available first-class medical care to those affected and to get to the bottom of these incidents, including to determine the cause and who is responsible. Protecting Americans and all those who serve our country is our first duty, and we will do everything we can to care for our personnel and their families.” LINK To Statute: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1828/text
The White House
Washington DC
8 October 2021
Q Thanks, Jen. The President signed the HAVANA Act into law today, but he did so out of public view. His statement today said that the United States government is offering resources to people who suffered from Havana Syndrome incidents, but he stopped short of calling these incidents “attacks.” So, at this point, what should the public know and what can the public know about what Havana Syndrome actually is and how it is caused?
MS. PSAKI: The public should know that this President is the first President to acknowledge the existence of Havana Syndrome or anonymous [anomalous] health incidents — that, across the government, across the national security team, they’re taking this incredibly seriously.
The National Security Council has worked closely with departments and agencies to take a number of significant steps: standardizing the reporting process so that all possible AHIs that are reported by U.S. personnel, regardless of department or agency affiliate — affiliation, are uniformly documented and quickly shared; improve the quality and speed of medical care, which is part of what this bill would help do; ensure there is financial support for that; ensure all relevant departments and agencies have messaged their workforce to provide guidance; increased intelligence collection and analytic focus on determining the cause of AHIs; and enlist U.S. government and outside experts to increase our understanding.
What is important to also know and understand is that we, of course, are determined to get to the bottom as quickly as possible of the — of the attribution and cause of these incidents. The intelligence community is in the lead on that. They have launched a largescale investigation into the potential causes. They’re actively examining a range of hypotheses, but they have not made a determination about the cause of these incidents or who is responsible.
So, our focus is on implementing — starting a process that did not exist when the President took office. It’s a huge priority for the government, the national security team. And the President was certainly pleased to sign the bill today.
Q Is Havana Syndrome a threat to Americans, particularly those traveling abroad?
MS. PSAKI: I don’t think you should make that assessment. We have not made an attribution.
Q I’m asking you yeah.
MS. PSAKI: you should not- we have not made an attribution of the source. But we take every reported incident seriously. And what we want to do is ensure that our national security team is using every resource at our disposal — intelligence gathering, assessing, treating every incident seriously, ensuring people receive medical care. But without an attribution and without an assessment of the cause or the origin, I just don’t want to go further than that.
Q Can I follow up on that?
MS. PSAKI: Go ahead.
Q Thanks, Jen.
MS. PSAKI: Well, I’ll come back to you, Patsy. Go ahead, Patsy. And then I’ll come back to you.
Q Thank you, Jen. Two questions to follow up on the HAVANA Act. One of the complaints that I hear a lot from people who believe that they were targeted by these attacks and also suffering from the so-called Havana Syndrome is the disparity in acknowledgement and also treatment depending on the country in which they were attacked. So, they’re saying, if they were attacked in Cuba, the government would admit and acknowledge, but if it happens in China, the government would not readily admit. So, would you say this is a fair characterization? Is the reason for this diplomatic or not? And would you commit to treating all the victims and supporting them in the same way, no matter where they were attacked?
MS. PSAKI: It’s hard to speak to anonymous sources here, Patsy. I would say that, as I noted earlier, our objective and the President’s commitment is to standardizing the reporting process, is to ensuring we’re improving the quality and speed of medical care, is of ensuring every case that comes forward is taken seriously, treated seriously. That has not always been the case, but that is our objective and the commitment of this administration.
Q And just to follow up on that: I understand you’ve explained how you want to standardize the process of reporting, but will that include some sort of centralized support system, maybe a hotline or a task force, where the victims can go and call? Because right now, when I’m talking to the victims, they’re saying they have to fight a skeptical bureaucracy. They don’t know how to find care from doctors who understand the syndrome, for example. And they just don’t know how to take care of themselves and their families having to fight all of this bureaucracy.
MS. PSAKI: Well, I’m not sure that your characterization — I — look, this is a priority for every national security agency. It’s something that many members of our national security team have spoken to personally, passionately themselves and their commitment to addressing this. We’ve also taken a number of very concrete steps. Each agency has their own process and system, but what we’re working to do is coordinate it. So, it’s — it’s — I think it’s not really fair to speak to one or two anonymous cases when this is an across-the-government effort, commitment, priority. The President signed a bill into law today. We’ve put a number of steps into place that are incredibly concrete. The President has acknowledged this a problem. We’re using every resource in the government to address it, and I think that really speaks to the President’s commitment.
United States Senate
Washington DC
8 October 2021
SFRC Chairman Menendez Statement on President Joe Biden Signing HAVANA Act into Law
WASHINGTON – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) released the following statement after President Joe Biden signed into law the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA Act), legislation co-authored by Menendez authorizing the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to expand protections and provide additional support to United States personnel and dependents who have suffered brain injuries as a result of suspected directed energy attacks in Havana, Cuba and around the world:
“Nearly five years after U.S. personnel in Havana began suffering from brain injuries, it is clear that we must do much more to care for and protect personnel and their family members. Today we are taking an important step towards fulfilling our moral obligation as a grateful nation to support injured U.S. personnel and their families—and sending a powerful message to our adversaries that we are determined to impose serious consequences for the harm these attacks have inflicted.”
“As the list of reported incidents continues to grow, today’s enactment of our HAVANA Act makes clear that the threats and attacks against our diplomats, national security staff and intelligence officers are a national security priority for the U.S. government, as is securing proper care and needed support for those impacted by them.”
