Sonic Weapon Used In Caracas Raid Is Stirring Debate
The saga of Havana Syndrome has always sounded like something out of a John le Carré novel — mysterious ailments, whispered conspiracies, shadowy government denials. But now, years after the first U.S. embassy staffers in Cuba reported searing ear pain and neurological symptoms, a new chapter is unfolding: one that suggests the United States may have the weapon responsible… sitting quietly in its possession.
For context, this syndrome, first reported in 2016, was long ridiculed by skeptics as a psychosomatic response or perhaps the product of mass hysteria. But others — from military personnel to CIA officers — have sworn under oath that something real, and deeply harmful, struck them. Now, CBS News has returned to the story, advancing the narrative with a bold claim: Russia might be behind these attacks. That theory isn’t new, but given how often major outlets have cried “Russia!” in recent years, skepticism remains high.
For the first time, there’s evidence of who might be behind the mysterious neurological symptoms known as Havana Syndrome, which has been reported by many American officials. https://t.co/5gpaz2Toy7 pic.twitter.com/vWAc8cv0ef
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 31, 2024
What’s not up for debate, however, is that an operation dubbed Absolute Resolve — the January 3 raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro — has injected fresh energy into the Havana Syndrome mystery. According to a statement posted by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, one of Maduro’s own guards claimed a “sonic weapon” was deployed during the raid. That claim might’ve died in the usual fog of international disinformation — if not for what came next.
Enter journalist Sasha Ingber, whose sources have cracked open something startling: the U.S. now possesses a weapon system capable of producing the same cognitive and physiological distress linked to Havana Syndrome. Where it came from is murky. Some say it was seized in a clandestine special operations mission. Others — including national security attorney Mark Zaid — believe it was simply purchased. But both accounts converge on one chilling point: the weapon is real, and it’s in American hands.
The details, though fragmented, suggest something deeply sophisticated — a directed energy weapon, compact and transportable, which can target individuals using pulsed radio frequencies. It incapacitates, without killing. Sources describe effects that include vomiting, intense physical pain, and total cognitive breakdown. It’s reportedly been tested. One intelligence veteran even said the Israelis requested access to it for crowd control in 2018, but then-Defense Secretary James Mattis denied the request.
BREAKING:
The intelligence expert and Sasha Ingber writes that that the U.S. has captured a device believed to be linked to Havana Syndrome.
She writes that 4 sources (including two familiar with U.S. special operations) have informed her that the U.S. acquired the weapon “a… pic.twitter.com/RE8D7CONQn
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 13, 2026
So was this tech deployed in Caracas? That remains speculative. Multiple sources within the special operations and intelligence communities raised doubts about the Venezuelan guard’s account. Some thought it was propaganda, others said the effects described don’t line up with known symptoms of Havana Syndrome. Still, the idea that the U.S. may have tested this weapon — or worse, used it — lingers just beneath the surface.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Washington is reportedly split. A new report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on Havana Syndrome is complete, yet withheld. Why? Insiders suggest a divide: DNI Tulsi Gabbard and National Counterterrorism Center Director Joseph Kent want it released. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and DOD intelligence officials do not. And in a twist that raises eyebrows, Gabbard — the nation’s top intelligence official — was allegedly not even involved in the Maduro raid.
Whether the weapon was captured in a cinematic special forces op or purchased in some quiet, deniable transaction, one thing is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss: the United States appears to hold in its arsenal a device that can render a person incapacitated with invisible force — a weapon that may finally explain years of whispered illness and shadowy symptoms.