U.S. Government has ordered the expulsion of 15 diplomats from Cuba’s embassy in Washington following recent move by the Donald Trump administration to pull over half of its diplomats out of Havana.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the latest decision was made “due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect American personnel in Cuba, targeted in mysterious attacks that damaged their health.”
The steps being taken by President Trump’s administration marked a further blow to his predecessor Barack Obama’s policy of rapprochement between Washington and Havana, former Cold War foes.
A State Department official said the number of expulsions was selected to make sure the U.S. and Cuban embassies have “equitable staffing levels” while investigations continued into the unexplained “health attacks.”
“The U.S. decision to expel a large portion of Cuban staff at the embassy was communicated to Cuban Ambassador Jose Ramon Cabanas on Tuesday.
“Also the diplomats were given seven days to leave the U.S.,’’ the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move followed an announcement on Friday that the U.S. was sharply reducing its diplomatic presence in Cuba as it warned U.S. citizens not to visit because of attacks that caused hearing loss, dizziness and fatigue in U.S. embassy personnel.
According to Tillerson, until the Government of Cuba ensured the safety of U.S. diplomats in Cuba, the embassy would be reduced to emergency personnel to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm.
However, Tillerson added that “we will continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and will continue to cooperate with Cuba as we pursue investigations into the attacks.”