The Trump administration on Wednesday, Aug. 13, imposed visa restrictions on African, Cuban and Grenadian government officials, and their family members, for their alleged “complicity” in the Cuban government’s medical mission program.

The State Department said medical professionals are allegedly “rented” by other countries at high prices and that “most of the revenue is kept by the Cuban authorities.” 

“This scheme enriches the corrupt Cuban regime while depriving the Cuban people of essential medical care,” the State Department claimed. 

“The United States continues to engage governments, and will take action as needed, to bring an end to such forced labor,” it added, urging governments to “pay the doctors directly for their services, not the regime slave masters. 

“The United States aims to support the Cuban people in their pursuit of freedom and dignity and promote accountability for those who perpetuate their exploitation,” continued the State Department, calling on “all nations that support democracy and human rights to join us in this effort to confront the Cuban regime’s abuses and stand with the Cuban people.”

When the Trump administration first raised the Cuban medical brigade issue earlier this year, several Caribbean governments registered strong objections. 

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said that at least 60 nationals are on a Cuban-run hemodialysis program that is used to treat kidney failure.

“If the Cubans are not there, we may not be able to run the service,” he said, stating Cuban medical personnel are paid the same as local practitioners. 

“I will prefer to lose my visa than to have 60 poor and working people die,” Gonsalves said.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley also said she was willing to have her US visa revoked over the issue. 

“This matter, with the Cubans and the nurses, should tell us everything that we need to know,” she told the Barbados Parliament. 

“Barbados does not currently have Cuban medical staff or Cuban nurses, but I will be the first to go to the line and to tell you that we (Caribbean countries) could not get through the (COVID-19) pandemic without the Cuban nurses and the Cuban doctors,” she added.  

Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said that Cuban medical personnel are important to Jamaica’s healthcare system,” stating that 400 Cuban doctors, nurses and medical technicians are currently working on the island.