by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 3:21 PM ET, Mon October 23, 2017
A tourist who visited Cuba two years ago has come forward reporting he may have been a victim of the same sonic attacks that left nearly two dozen U.S. government employees on the island with unexplainable medical problems.
South Carolina resident Chris Allen says he suffered numbness throughout all four of his limbs immediately upon climbing into bed at the Hotel Capri in the Cuban capital of Havana.
It is the same hotel that many U.S. government workers, diplomats and their family members were staying at years later when they suffered similar attacks.
"It was so noticeable and it happened so quickly that it was all I could focus on and it really, really frightened me," 37-year-old Allen, who works in finances, said.
According to an in-depth Associated Press report, which involved studying Allen's medical records, lab results, email correspondence and more, there are numerous parallels between the South Carolina resident's case and the invisible attacks that impacted the U.S. government workers and officials.
The U.S. has not directly accused Cuba of being behind the attacks, The Hill reported. The State Department, however, has warned that Havana is responsible for the safety of U.S. diplomats serving in the state under the Vienna Convention.
Cuba's government has denied any involvement. Vice President, Miguel Diaz-Canel has labeled the accusation as "bizarre nonsense without the slightest evidence, with the perverse intention of discrediting Cuba's impeccable behavior."
Allen is now among a growing number of American citizens coming forward to ask whether they might have been victims of the same sort of puzzling events that impacted government employees. Since the Associated Press began writing about the attacks, about three dozen American citizens have reached out to the news agency with concerns that they too may have been impacted.
The Associated Press, however, chose not to publish the other stories, after its initial investigations raised doubts about whether they were truly connected. It could very well be that Allen's illness is not connected either.
What is known is that he had sudden-onset symptoms which started in his hotel bed but subsided in other parts of his hotel room. U.S. government workers have given similar accounts of their attacks.
After falling ill, Allen quickly left the island. But his illness lingered for months. After visiting about a half-dozen neurologists in the United States, there were still no answers. He spent months and thousands of dollars undergoing medical tests as his symptoms continued.
The State Department last month issued warnings about visiting the island, noting that assaults had occurred and that the U.S. government cannot guarantee any traveler's safety.
The U.S. based travel industry, however, continues to support growing relations with the island, including offering cruises, tours and more.
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