Caribbean leaders are defying U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s threats to cancel visas for officials who support Cuba’s medical missions program, a daring move that echoes the region’s longstanding struggle for sovereignty. Several prime ministers have stated that they would rather forego access to the United States than jeopardize their populations’ access to healthcare.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines stated, “I will prefer to lose my US visa than to have 60 poor and working people die,” highlighting the essential dialysis services that Cuban medical professionals offer in his nation. Dr. Keith Rowley, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, echoed this sentiment when he said, to thunderous applause, at a recent public event: “I just came back from California, and if I never go back there again in my life, I will ensure that the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is known to its people and respected by all?”
- Advertisement -
Rubio’s announcement last month of a new strategy aimed at what he called Cuban “forced” labor, specifically concerning the island’s medical missions abroad, heightened international tensions. Current or former Cuban officials “believed to be responsible for or involved in the Cuban labor export program,” which Rubio has referred to as “exploitation of Cuban workers,” will be subject to visa restrictions under the policy.
The healthcare collaboration with Cuba is essential for Caribbean countries. Approximately 24,180 Cuban physicians work in 56 countries throughout the world, greatly improving healthcare systems in areas with inadequate medical infrastructure. At a recent press event, Jamaica’s Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith emphasized this, stating that more than 400 Cuban medical professionals, including physicians, nurses, biomedical engineers, and technicians, work in her country and that their contributions are “of importance to our health care system.”
“We have a legitimate partnership with the government and people of Cuba who have over several decades provided support to the people of Grenada in the medical field,” said Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada, underscoring the historical significance of this assistance. He said, “We will continue to support and defend the partnership,” acknowledging the difficulties his country suffers in finding specialized physicians.
Foreign ministers from the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) recently met with U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone in Washington, D.C., as a result of the incident, which has sparked high-level diplomatic conversations. Though he stressed that “this very important issue has to be dealt with at the level of heads of government,” Guyana’s Foreign Minister Hugh Todd acknowledged the significance of the United States as “a strategic partner to CARICOM.”
Citing the challenges faced during the COVID-19 outbreak, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Rowley drew attention to the contradiction in the U.S. position: “Remember what happened during Covid when vaccines were required, and we couldn’t buy one even though we had the money? And even where we paid the money, those we paid put us at the back of the line?” He defended his nation’s medical staffing policies, explaining that while doctors from the Philippines, India, and Cuba, in particular, are paid “top dollar—equal to local rates,” his government is “now being accused of taking part in a program where people are being exploited.”
Speaking on the television program “Mornin Barbados,” Barbados’s ambassador David Commissiong put the current conflict in historical perspective by pointing out that 53 years ago, when the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United States demanded that new Caribbean countries not recognize Cuba, Caribbean prime ministers Errol Barrow, Michael Manley, Forbes Burnham, and Dr. Eric Williams faced similar pressures. “We are sovereign independent nations, and we will decide for ourselves what nations we will have relations with,” said Commissiong, describing these leaders’ declaration of sovereignty.
Commissiong linked a 1960 State Department memo that purportedly recognized the popularity of Castro’s revolution and recommended making “life uncomfortable for the people in Cuba” by undermining the government to Rubio’s current policy, which he described as “part of this continuing U.S. vendetta against Cuba” and intended to bring about “regime change.” Additionally, he noted that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which Caribbean countries depend on for health policy, has lost the U.S.’s longstanding backing.
He noted, “The United States, having withdrawn itself from PAHO, will have a tremendous implication for all of us in the Caribbean, and you now turn around and say we must reject the much-needed and critical health assistance being given to us by Cuba!”
Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s foreign minister, has attacked Rubio, calling the policy a “unjustified aggressive measure” and charging him with putting his “personal agenda” ahead of American interests. Caribbean leaders have shown that regional unity and public health concerns are more important than the possibility of U.S. visa restrictions by remaining focused on their healthcare needs and exercising sovereign decision-making while this diplomatic crisis unfolds.
