WASHINGTON — The State Department has expelled two diplomats from the Cuban Embassy in Washington following a series of unexplained incidents in Cuba that left U.S. officials there with physical symptoms that one official said includes potentially permanent hearing loss. "Cuba has never, nor would it ever, allow that the Cuban territory be used for any action against accredited diplomatic agents or their families," the foreign ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said more incidents followed the initial ones in 2016, prompting the Americans to leave the island and the department to act against the Cuban diplomats in the U.S.

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Nauert confirmed the report Wednesday during a briefing. Bauert said that US personnel began experiencing ailments in late 2016, but that it was not immediately recognised that it could be anything other than an ordinary health issue. Although she would not provide details, Nauert said that investigators did not yet have a definitive explanation for the incidents but stressed they take them "very seriously" and are working to determine their "cause and impact." "This is an active investigation, and that investigation is ongoing at this time," she said, adding: "It is an area that is under investigation that is a major concern of ours." Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the two Cubans were asked to leave the U.S. on May 23 after Americans in Cuba "reported incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms," causing them to leave the island. President Donald Trump rolled back part of his predecessor Barack Obama's policy towards Cuba, but has left in place many of the changes, including the re-opened U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Two Cuban diplomats are expelled from the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., after an incident in Havana forced U.S. officials to return home.