Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, head of U.S. affairs at Cuba's foreign ministry, speaks to reporters in Havana, Cuba, Dec. 12, 2018. Two years after the United States first accused Cuba of alleged sonic attacks against its diplomatic personnel, it has yet to release any evidence, the Cuban official said on Wednesday.(Xinhua/Fan Xiaolin)
HAVANA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Two years after the United States first accused Cuba of alleged sonic attacks against its diplomatic personnel, it has yet to release any evidence, a Cuban foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.
"Until today, there has been ... no evidence to prove that something occurred in Cuba that could have damaged the health of several U.S. diplomats," Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, head of U.S. affairs at the island's foreign ministry, told reporters.
The U.S. has not even released the identities of the alleged victims, he said.
"There's no concrete data on the medical condition of the patients, who they are, their clinical records, laboratory or imaging evidence. Everything has been speculation or manipulated information," he said.
The diplomats and some family members reportedly suffered symptoms such as hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, headaches and fatigue since late 2016.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered embassy staff be sharply reduced, curtailing visa processing, and in October 2017 expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington.
Cuban investigators cooperating with the investigation failed to find any source of the afflictions.
De Cossio addressed the issue after a medical team that examined the diplomats published a new report on the mysterious afflictions that affected 26 embassy employees.
According to the University of Miami medical team that first treated the patients, all of the employees suffered damage to the part of the inner ear responsible for balance.
The Cuban government has said it believes the matter has been manipulated and politicized by Washington to roll back the normalization of ties between the two countries after more than 50 years of animosity.
"In the last two years, new information has been announced on several occasions and yet what has come out continues to be vague," he said.
De Cossio chided Washington's lack of cooperation and urged U.S. authorities to present any information they have on the incident.
"What is the U.S. government hiding? Why hasn't it put forward concrete information that the scientific community can accept as valuable to find an answer to what allegedly occurred in Cuba?" he asked.
