The Trump administration expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from the embassy in Washington in an escalating response to mysterious illnesses afflicting American embassy personnel in Havana.
The expulsions were intended to force the Cubans to operate their embassy in Washington under the same emergency conditions that the United States is now operating under in Havana. The Trump administration decided last week to pare its staff in Havana down to a skeletal group of just 27 people who can carry out emergency services.
A State Department official said that the Cuban government would need to give a clear assurance that the attacks would not continue before the personnel in either embassy could return.
The expulsions represent yet another step in the administration’s gradual unwinding of the Obama administration’s rapprochement with Cuba, a reopening welcomed by much of Latin America and Europe — but criticized by many Cuban émigrés from Florida and elsewhere.
In a briefing with reporters Tuesday morning, State Department officials said that the Cuban ambassador in Washington was informed of the expulsions in a 9 a.m. phone call. The expelled embassy personnel must be out of the United States within seven days. By then, the American embassy in Havana will have completed its own drawdown.
The actions are in retaliation for a worrisome series of illnesses that began affecting American diplomats and their spouses last December. By late January, the administration had realized that the illnesses were related and may have resulted from some sort of attack, perhaps by a sonic device, toxin or virus.
In a press statement, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said the United States was expelling 15 Cuban diplomats “due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention.” Mr. Tillerson added that “this order will ensure equity in our respective diplomatic operations.”
State Department officials emphasized that they are not accusing the Cuban government of complicity in the attacks.
“We continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and will continue to cooperate with Cuba as we pursue the investigation into these attacks,” Mr. Tillerson said.
While Trump administration officials stressed that their action did not amount to a change in United States policy toward Cuba or an end to diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana, the practical effect will be a stark turnaround in the relationship and a return to the days preceding the Obama administration détente, when the two countries’ dealings were dysfunctional and fraught with suspicion.
Proponents of the move toward normalization said the action threatened to create a new chapter of hostility between Cuba and the United States, playing into the hands of those who wish to reverse the thaw.
