Around the world, Cuba is celebrated and lauded for its medical brigades, in which the island nation sends its doctors and personnel to other countries in need. For decades Cuba has provided free humanitarian medical services to countries impacted by emergencies, diseases, weather-related disasters, and more. Their medical brigade has saved lives.
In addition, Cuba offers free medical education and training at its Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM). ELAM is open to students around the world who qualify, and who desire to be doctors.
The program attracts students from underserved communities, and after they graduate, students promise to return home to serve these same underserved communities as doctors. One would think this noble cause would be supported and celebrated. Instead, the U.S. is punishing Cuba.
The crippling sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Cuba over the years are now targeting the island nation’s medical brigades. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent.
Alleges Cuba is “forcing” its doctors to travel abroad and provide medical services to impoverished countries, a charge Cuba vehemently denies. Consequently, the U.S. has imposed additional sanctions on the tiny island nation.
“We announce the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labor linked to the Cuban labor export program. This expanded policy applies to current or former Cuban government officials.
And other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or involved in, the Cuban labor export program, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions,” Secretary Rubio wrote in a statement.
“This policy also applies to the immediate family of such persons. The Department has already taken steps to impose visa restrictions on several individuals, including Venezuelans, under this expanded policy,” the statement continues in part.
Secretary Rubio charges that the Cuban government’s labor export initiatives, including medical missions abroad, financially benefit Cuba while simultaneously depriving Cuban citizens of essential healthcare services in their own nation. Again, the Cuban government denies these allegations.
Critics argue that the U.S. targeting of Cuba’s medical brigade is inhumane. “Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced those decisions and the visa policy,” reported Common Dreams.
“Rodriguez took aim at the U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday (Feb. 25), saying in English and Spanish social media posts that ‘once again, Marco Rubio puts his personal agenda before the U.S. interests.
The suspension of visas associated to Cuba’s international medical cooperation is the seventh unjustified aggressive measure against our population within a month,”’ noted commondreams.org.
Cuba has been under unilateral sanction by the United States since 1958. Nevertheless, Cuba has established partnerships with friendly nations, regularly dispatching teams of healthcare professionals to provide medical services.
Several independent Caribbean states and other recipient nations see this as part of Cuba’s humanitarian efforts, which also includes sending emergency response teams to disaster areas and major incidents worldwide.
Reports indicate that CARICOM member states’ foreign ministers have been in close consultation regarding the issue. CARICOM (The Caribbean Community and Common Market) is a regional group of 20 nations.
During a recent parliamentary session, Barbados’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, emphasized the need for a measured response. According to Barbados Today, he cautioned, “It is crucial … that we do not succumb to the urge to react with excessive aggression.”
Since 1963, more than 600,000 Cuban health workers have provided care around the world. These medical teams, known as “armies of white robes,” travel globally to aid crises, particularly in developing nations.
After a severe earthquakes in Mexico (1985), Iran (1990) and Pakistan (2005) Cuban medical professionals were sent to help. After hurricanes, floods and tsunamis around the world, health care workers went to Honduras (1974-1998), Nicaragua (1988-1998), and Guatemala (1998).
In the 2010s, Cuban doctors were pivotal in addressing cholera in Haiti and the Ebola crisis in West Africa. During the severe COVID-19 outbreak in Lombardy, Italy, Cuba sent medical teams.
Before Kathryn Hall-Trujillo, became the administrator of the U.S. Cuba Medical School Scholarship Program, she was part of a medical mission.
She told The Final Call, “My husband and I were on a Cuba mission for maybe four years helping to build a first hospital for the Garifuna (Ethic group) in Honduras. We went into a country and helped them get their health care together from getting their kids shoes to actually building a hospital.
“None of us were forced. Cuba has a lot of doctors that live in their neighborhoods. Everybody has access to a doctor. These doctors chose to go on these missions, their child may be older, or they want to make some extra money. It’s all volunteer. Cuba has an abundance of doctors, they export doctors.”
In addition to sending doctors around the world, Cuba also trains doctors from around the world with its free medical school. “The value of the medical school is that it’s an opportunity for the United States to also have more doctors,” Ms. Hall-Trujillo said.
“The extra value is that it gives the United States an opportunity to have doctors that were trained in a global community that understands that there’s a world bigger than the United States. They are part of it and they have to learn how to be a part of that world that is bigger than the United States.”
Cuban medical institutions have awarded degrees in health-related fields to 35,787 graduates from 141 countries, mainly in Africa and Latin America.
Over 4,000 Cuban healthcare professionals are currently deployed in 32 African countries, addressing diseases like Ebola, cholera, tuberculosis, AIDS, and malaria. These physicians are noted for their focus on preventive healthcare and their commitment to disease prevention.
Luci Murphy is a D.C. activist and previously lived in Cuba for years. She told The Final Call, “These doctors conduct humanitarian efforts abroad. The Cuban government has invested in their education and welfare. These missions are voluntary. It’s a benefit for their family and a benefit for the people that they’re visiting.
“What Cuba needs is for the United States to take their foot off Cuba’s neck and let them import the medicines as well as the food that they need. The United States restricts food and medicine to Cuba. I have a friend who’s diabetic and can’t get his medication because of the United States restrictions.”
