During our early days in the U.S., my father, my uncle, and a few Cuban friends were having a nice laugh about the allegations that they were working for the CIA.  It was common back then for the Castro regime, and some of their friends among the international left, to brand Cuban exiles as CIA operatives, agents, or whatever else denoted that we had worked for them.  We were allegedly on the CIA's payroll!

It led one of my dad's friends to say: "I never got my CIA stipend.  Did any of you?"  I remember a lot of laughter after that!

The latest explanation about the "sonic attack" is more bizarre than the story itself.  It's hard to believe that the Cuban government has come to this.  This is from a Fox News report:

Could the mysterious "sonic attacks" allegedly waged against U.S. Embassy employees in Cuba really just be the sounds of very loud crickets and cicadas?

That's what Cuban officials seemed to suggest Thursday in a half-hour prime-time television special titled "Alleged Sonic Attacks."

The special broadcast was Cuban officials' most detailed defense to date against U.S. accusations that American diplomats in Havana were subjected to mysterious sounds that left them with a variety of ailments -- including headaches, hearing problems and concussions.

With the report, Cuban officials sought to undermine the Trump administration's assertion that 24 U.S. officials or their relatives had been subjected to deliberate attacks by a still-undetermined culprit.

Many U.S. officials reported being subjected to loud, grating noises before falling ill. The U.S. has not accused Cuba of carrying out the attacks, but says that Cuba has not met its obligation to protect diplomats on its territory.

The Cuban regime is concerned about President Trump slandering their good name?  Who is going to defend the poor cicadas from the regime's slander?

This is such an outrageous report from Havana.

First, why did the cicadas attack only U.S. diplomats?

Second, I don't remember anyone in my family ever complaining of 'cicada attacks" in Cuba. 

My father's family arrived in Cuba from Spain in the 1840s.  My mother's family arrived from Asturias (Spain) in the 1920s.  My parents were born and grew up in the interior of the island, surrounded by lots of countryside.  My dad had lots of cattlemen as bank clients.  He would often take my brother and me to visit their cattle ranches when we were kids.  I saw lots of bulls and cows growing up.

I've heard everything, from chameleons scaring little girls to crazy frogs running into your living room to roosters gone mad and attacking dogs to mules refusing to work on Sundays to parrots using bad language to sharks attacking swimmers.  Frankly, I have never heard of cicadas ever harming anyone – nor, especially, of "cicada brigades" targeting specific diplomats.

So it must CIA-trained cicadas.  What else explains what just happened in Cuba?  Who knew that the CIA had a cicada department in their building?  

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