On-the-Ground Investigation Finds Alleged Russian SIGINT Base at Lourdes Cuba Cited in Trump Executive Order Is a University With No Intelligence Infrastructure

Drop Site News and Belly of the Beast reported that a two-day, on-the-ground investigation of the Lourdes site outside Havana found no evidence of the Russian signals-intelligence facility described in President Trump's January executive order and a March 24 New York Times article by Michael Crowley, which stated the base "bristles with antennas and other eavesdropping equipment" targeting US Central Command, Cape Canaveral and Mar-a-Lago 12. Reporters found the site occupied by Cuba's University of Computer Sciences, built on the grounds after Russia dismantled and removed the original base's equipment between 2001 and 2002 12. University co-founder Rafael Torralbas told the outlets Russian personnel "handed over the buildings completely empty," removing "absolutely every antenna" via six cargo flights, with the last Russians departing in August 2002 and university classes beginning that September; the only antennas reporters found on campus were two mobile-phone masts belonging to Cuba's state telecom ETECSA, and over 80% of the campus's buildings were constructed after the Russian departure 2. The State Department and Michael Crowley did not respond to requests for comment; The New York Times also did not respond 1.