U.S. will expel 15 Cuban diplomats, escalating tensions over mystery illnesses
Source: The Washington Post
By Carol Morello October 3 at 11:27 AM
The State Department is expelling 15 Cuban diplomats after slashing the U.S. mission in Cuba last week in response to months of unexplained injuries to American personnel.
The decision announced Tuesday is certain to deepen the rift between the two countries over what the State Department has called “specific attacks” on U.S. diplomats during the past 10 months. The United States has not blamed Cuba, which has denied any involvement and cooperated with FBI agents dispatched there.
“We are not assigning culpability,” said a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity under administration guidelines for briefing the media. The expulsions, the official said, aim to “underscore to the Cubans that they must take more actions to protect our people on the ground.”
The expelled Cubans, a list of whom were presented to the Cuban ambassador Tuesday morning, will have seven days to leave the country. Last week, the State Department said it would pull more than half its personnel out of the U.S. embassy in Havana, and they are expected to have departed by the end of the week.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-will-expel-cuban-diplomats-as-fallout-deepens-over-mystery-illnesses/2017/10/03/8e8debc8-a83e-11e7-b3aa-c0e2e1d41e38_story.html
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