Havana Syndrome: The Perfect Disease for a Post-Truth World

Yet, mysteriously, there was no physical contact. By spring 2017 there were more than 80 alleged cases. Their medical diagnosis was akin to a "concussion without a concussion." Shortly after, more than two dozen personnel and family members attached to the Canadian Embassy in Havana began to report similar symptoms, but no noises. The "Havana Syndrome" was born.

By late summer 2021, this Havana Syndrome had made its first appearance in the Balkans and Central Europe, with cases erupting in Serbia, Vienna and Berlin. These outbreaks followed three years of a growing global escalation of similar cases at the US consulate in Guangzhou, China, as well as diplomats, intelligence officers and other US government personnel being afflicted in locations as diverse as Russia, Georgia, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Washington, D.C., near the White House.

As of late November, roughly 200 cases of Havana Syndrome have been reported. About half concern CIA officers and their relatives; around 60 are linked to the Department of Defense; the State Department has counted at least 50.

The Havana Syndrome has become a strategic adversary's dream: phantom causes and real, but poorly understood, effects; fear, suffering, confusion; recriminations without compelling material evidence; conflicting opinions among institutions we normally rely on for credible information; and a further disintegration of international trust. It may be the perfect metaphor for our current age of disinformation, doubt, decay of political norms and despair among liberal democracies about what the future may bring.

People participating in a caravan called to demand the end of the United States trade embargo on Cuba drive past the US embassy, in Havana,...