Caribbean leaders have hit again at a menace issued by america authorities to cancel visas for anybody working with or supporting Cuban medical amenities, citing allegations of pressured labour and claiming these missions “enrich the Cuban regime”.
Cuban medical missions, which offer medical doctors, nurses and different medical employees in addition to medical amenities, are crucial to healthcare methods within the Caribbean.
So how have Caribbean nations responded to this menace and what would it not imply for healthcare there?
Why is the US authorities taking goal at Cuba’s medical programme?
The focusing on of Cuban medical missions isn’t new for US President Donald Trump’s administration. Throughout his first time period as president of the US from 2017 to 2021, his administration imposed visa sanctions on Cuba’s world medical programme. His authorities claimed these missions amounted to “human trafficking” as a result of, it mentioned, Cuban medical doctors are reportedly underpaid.
This time round, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has introduced restrictions on visas for presidency officers in Cuba and anybody else, globally, that the US deems to be “complicit” with Cuba’s international medical programmes. The State Division mentioned the restrictions would lengthen to “present and former officers” in addition to the “rapid household of such individuals”.
Rubio known as the Cuban medical programme a type of “pressured labour” and the federal government has warned that Caribbean nations collaborating in these programmes may face visa restrictions in addition to potential commerce repercussions.
Nonetheless, no concrete proof has been supplied to help these claims.
America is increasing its Cuba-related visa restriction coverage. @StateDept has taken steps to limit visa issuance to Cuban and complicit third-country authorities officers and people chargeable for Cuba’s exploitative labor export program. We are going to promote…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 25, 2025
The US alleges that Cuba’s authorities exploits its medical professionals by retaining a big portion of their wages and limiting their freedoms. Whereas some Cuban medical doctors have defected and criticised the situations of the programme, many others say they willingly take part.
Tamarys Bahamonde, an economist on the US-based Heart for Latin American and Latino Research, mentioned this situation is “advanced” and may centre the voices of the medical doctors themselves.
“No matter whether or not Cuban medical doctors qualify as pressured labour, we do know that they don’t negotiate their very own contracts or working situations,” she mentioned.
“Cuba retains a good portion of their salaries, and there are testimonies from medical doctors confirming restrictions on motion, confiscation of passports by Cuban authorities in host international locations, and limitations on bringing their households alongside.”
On the similar time, Bahamonde reiterated the essential function that Cuban medical professionals play, particularly in the case of offering healthcare providers to underserved communities.
“Throughout my time working for a international embassy in Havana, I noticed firsthand how grateful many international locations are for Cuban medical doctors and the advantages they convey to remoted areas – locations that beforehand had little to no medical entry,” she mentioned.
Can Trump’s administration legally do that?
Legally, Trump has broad authority over visa coverage via the State Division. The US authorities can impose restrictions without having approval from Congress by citing nationwide safety or international coverage considerations.
Affected nations can push again via diplomatic or authorized channels, however Bahamonde identified that the US focusing on of Cuban medical missions isn’t unique to the Trump administration.
“The proposed visa restriction is definitely an enlargement of a coverage initiated by the Biden administration. In 2024, President Biden signed a spending invoice that included sanctions towards officers from third international locations that contracted Cuba’s medical providers,” Bahamonde informed Al Jazeera.
“That very same yr, his administration additionally accused Cuba of making the most of its medical professionals.”
She added that opposition to Cuban medical missions is “bipartisan”, citing a 2024 decision led by Republican Congressman Mark Inexperienced, calling for visa revocations towards international locations hiring Cuban medical doctors.
“The sentiment concerning Cuban medical missions is pretty constant throughout celebration strains. Whether or not or not President Trump has unilateral authority to impose these visa restrictions, I wouldn’t anticipate important resistance to them,” she mentioned.
This means that, no matter who’s in energy, Caribbean nations will probably proceed to face diplomatic strain over their reliance on Cuban medical professionals, she mentioned.
How have Caribbean leaders responded?
Some Caribbean leaders have declared they’ll surrender their proper to US visas if it means retaining Cuban medical missions.
This week, Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley gave a fiery tackle to parliament, calling the US stance “unfair and unjustified”.
“We couldn’t get via the pandemic with out the Cuban nurses and the Cuban medical doctors,” she mentioned.
Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Keith Rowley, warned that US interference in Caribbean healthcare choices was unacceptable.
“Out of the blue now, we now have been known as human traffickers as a result of we rent technical individuals who we pay prime greenback,” Rowley mentioned, including that he was ready to lose his US visa.
Equally, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves highlighted the direct impact Cuban medical doctors have on affected person care.
“If the Cubans usually are not there, we might not be capable of run the service,” he mentioned. “I’ll choose to lose my visa than to have 60 poor and dealing folks die.”
And final week, Jamaican International Minister Kamina Johnson Smith informed reporters her authorities views Cuban medics as important.
“Their presence right here is of significance to our healthcare system,” she mentioned. There are 400 Cuban medical doctors, nurses and medical technicians presently working within the nation.
In a submit on X, Bahamian International Minister Fred Mitchell vouched for the Cuban programme, saying his authorities “follows all worldwide finest practices within the recruitment of labour”.
Hugh Todd, Guyana’s international minister, informed the AP information service on Tuesday that 15 international ministers from the Caribbean Neighborhood (CARICOM) had met with Mauricio Claver-Carone, US particular envoy for Latin America, in Washington, DC, to voice their opposition and demand readability on US coverage.
“The US is a strategic accomplice to CARICOM, however this crucial situation must be handled on the stage of heads of presidency,” he mentioned.
Why are Cuban medical missions crucial to Caribbean healthcare, and what occurs if they’re minimize?
Cuba has greater than 24,000 medical doctors working in 56 international locations worldwide, with the missions notably boosting healthcare throughout the Caribbean, particularly in impoverished nations dealing with deep financial crises and with restricted medical providers.
“The impression on Caribbean nations will rely on how important Cuban medical doctors are to their healthcare methods and the way troublesome they might be to interchange within the brief time period with out considerably affecting the communities that depend on them,” Bahamonde mentioned.
For a lot of Caribbean nations, the short-term penalties may very well be devastating. Coaching native medical doctors takes years, and skilled professionals typically migrate to different international locations, abandoning a persistent scarcity.
Cuba helps fill this hole by sending hundreds of medical personnel which might be way more inexpensive to locals than personal healthcare choices, Bahamonde defined. These missions present main care, emergency response groups and specialists in fields which might be typically underrepresented in Caribbean hospitals.
They’ve additionally performed a distinguished function in the case of responding to regional disasters, similar to hurricanes, earthquakes and public well being emergencies. Cuban medical doctors have been instrumental in combating the cholera outbreak in Haiti following a devastating earthquake in 2010, and in helping Caribbean nations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Which different international locations depend on Cuban medical missions?
Cuba doesn’t simply ship medical doctors to the Caribbean; it has medical missions everywhere in the world. Some key examples embody:
- Venezuela is among the largest recipients of Cuban medical doctors, with hundreds working in group clinics.
- Brazil had a significant Cuban medical programme till 2018, when Cuba recalled 8,000 medical doctors resulting from a diplomatic dispute.
- Italy acquired Cuban medical doctors throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to assist overwhelmed hospitals in a few of its hardest-hit areas.
- South Africa hosts Cuban medical professionals in rural areas the place there are physician shortages.
