[UPDATED] Government visas at risk – Trump to penalise countries using Cuban medics

LOSE your Cuban medics or lose your visas, was the US Government's threat to people who liaise with the Cuban medical system such as public officials of Trinidad and Tobago. A recent remark by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised fears of the sudden revocation of visas such as that of the Prime Minister who is now visiting the US with his wife Sharon Rowley, following Dr Rowley's previous revelations of visits to California for prostate treatment.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said Caricom's Council for Foreign and Community Relations (Cofcor) met on February 28 to discuss the US decision to revoke visas of foreign government officials whose countries employ Cuban doctors and nurses.

On February 25, Rubio said, "Today, we announce the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labour linked to the Cuban labour export programme.

"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 labour export programme, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions."

Rubio, in the statement posted on his department's website, said the policy also applied to the immediate family of such people.

"The department has already taken steps to impose visa restrictions on several individuals, including Venezuelans, under this expanded policy."

Contacted for comment, Browne told Newsday, "Cofcor held a meeting on this issue this morning (February 28) and has agreed to seek clarification from the (US) State Department on behalf of member states in the region."

Cofcor is a Caricom body that co-ordinates foreign policy and co-operation among member states. It also works with international bodies and third states to further of the interests of Caricom member states.

Rubio has claimed that Cuba continues to profit from the forced labour of its workers and that that regime’s abusive and coercive labour practices have been well documented.

"Cuba’s labour export programmes, which include the medical missions, enrich the Cuban regime, and in the case of Cuba’s overseas medical missions, deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their home country," Rubio said.

He said the US remained committed to countering forced labour practices around the globe.

"To do so, we must promote accountability not just for Cuban officials responsible for these policies, but also those complicit in the exploitation and forced labour of Cuban workers."

A statement on the Cuban embassy's website said on July 20, 2023, the Ministry of Health together with collaborators of the Cuban Medical Brigade celebrated on July 19, the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban medical collaboration in TT.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and Cuban ambassador Tania Diego Olite chaired the function.

A statement on the embassy's website said Deyalsingh thanked Cuba for its help over the past 20 years in providing doctors and nurses to augment TT's health sector.

A ministry source told Newsday it was "highly unlikely" the new US foreign policy would target TT's officials in any way.

"It is more likely Cubans and Venezuelans involved in the design and higher levels of the programme who could be targeted," the source said.

Browne said that a meeting was being arranged for the second week of March between Cofcor ministers and US Envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone, in Washington, DC.

Newsday asked Dr Rowley his views but up to press time he had not replied, similarly to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar was contacted by Newsday and indirectly commented via WhatsApp on the use of Cuban medics.

She said, "We have hundreds of unemployed doctors, nurses, technicians and other medical professionals. They are my first priority.

"I plan to find employment in the medical sector for our local professionals."

Cuba: Our doctors have helped people across the globe

In response to Rubio, the Cuban Government accused the US of alleging exploited labour as part of "a campaign to discredit the prestige of Cuban medical missions."

However, it said Cuba had sent more than half a million medics to countries hit by natural disasters, in a statement posted on Granma, the official voice of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee on February 26.

The statement said the US Government's decision could affect the health services of millions of people in Cuba and the world.

"The United States will expand the policy of restricting visas related to Cuba, which will now involve the suspension of those associated with the island's international medical cooperation agreements."

The US action will restrict visas from Cuban and other officials dubbed “alleged accomplices” plus the people responsible for this international medical care programme, the statement added.

The Cuban Government alleged that in this action Rubio "once again puts his personal agenda ahead of the interests of his government."

The statement cited Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla as saying the US decision was "based on falsehoods and coercion" and was ,intended to affect the health services of millions in Cuba and in the world, so as to benefit certain US special-interest groups.

The Cuban Government said Rubio's accusations of Cuba exporting “exploited labour” was part of a campaign to discredit the prestige of Cuban medical missions which had been launched during Donald Trump's first presidential term in 2017-2021.

"In that period, during which the pandemic of covid19 was raging, 58 Cuban medical brigades worked in 42 countries in Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania in the care, treatment and prevention of this scourge.

"As the Cuban Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated, these accusations seek to associate the island with practices of 'modern slavery' and 'human trafficking' for the purpose of exploitation, or alleged interference in the internal affairs of the States in which they are located."

The Cuban Government said US persecution has forced the end of certain unnamed co-operation programmes in Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia.

The statement said in the past 60 years, more than 600,000 Cuban health workers have provided their services worldwide.

It said Cuban medics had helped earthquake victims in Peru (1970), Nicaragua (1972), Mexico (1985), Armenia (1988), Iran (1990), Algeria (2003), and Pakistan (2005). The statement recounted Cuban medical help after hurricanes, floods and tsunamis in Honduras (1974-1998), Nicaragua (1988-1998), Guatemala (1998), Venezuela (1999), Guyana (2005), plus Sri Lanka and Indonesia (2005).

Cuban medics also helped fight the dengue epidemic in Central America, visiting El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Honduras (2000-2003)

IR expert: Caricom must push back on measure

International relations expert Prof Andy Mc Knight told Newsday the visa restriction would affect the University of the West Indies (UWI) which he said has medical links to Cuba. "This is very much a threat to the region."

Newsday asked about Rubio's claim that Cuban medics were exploited as forced labour.

He said,"It is not exploitative. There is no evidence of that at all.

"This is the Trump Administration's bullying tactics, trying to capture anyone with links to Cuba."

Mc Knight said Trump in his first term had acted against Cuba, but those measures were reversed by his successor president Joe Biden.

"He is reinstating them. It is an attempt to marginalise Cuba."

Mc Knight said Rubio personally came from a privileged background of Cubans opposed to what Fidel Castro had done upon taking over Cuba.

He said the Cuban medical system was excellent. "In the pandemic, they were very helpful in the region."

Newsday asked what options should Caribbean leaders consider in how to handle this visa threat.

Mc Knight replied, "They should follow Canada's example. Push back on any measure like this.

"Caricom has to do this collectively. There cannot be a split in Caricom. It must be done together."

Asked about the Make America Great Again (MAGA) leadership, he remarked, "Sometimes their bark is worse than their bite."

He said often statements are made where the issue had not been properly thought through. Mc Knight said Trump likes to "throw a lot of things" around, hoping some stick, and was now trying to "flood the system." He opined that while it may seem to many observers that under Trump "the sky is falling," in reality, that was not so.

Gopeesingh: PNM 'destroyed' local training for nurses, specialists

Former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh, a gynaecologist/obstetrician, told Newsday UWI had established a training school to teach nurses in specialist areas such as cardiology, intensive care, neurology, and accident and emergency (A&E) care.

"These were operating very well, so we did not need specialists from abroad. But the PNM destroyed all that. So now we have to search."

He said under the former UNC government, some 300 nurses per year were trained at the nurses school at Tacarigua, in addition to the nursing specialists.

Blaming the Government for closing the facility, he said the closure had caused a lot of deaths.

"We will establish the nurses training school in Tacarigua. We will also re-establish the specialists training school that the PNM destroyed," he vowed of a future UNC government.

Newsday asked how many Cuban medics were in TT and how their removal might affect the public health sector.

Gopeesingh said, "The country does not have a clue.

"The PNM in its nine years has not given the people of TT an audited account, so they do not have the ability to plan.

"If you don't know the true situation how can you plan? This is why we lost 4,600 lives during covid."

Claiming that not even Deyalsingh knew the number of Cuban medics in TT, he alleged the minister was "seriously incompetent."

This story was originally published with the title "US to revoke visas of government officials from countries with Cuban medics" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

FOREIGN and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said Caricom's Council for Foreign and Community Relations (Cofcor) met on February 28 to discuss the United States' decision to revoke visas of foreign government officials whose countries employ Cuban doctors and nurses.

On February 25, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "Today, we announce the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labour linked to the Cuban labour 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 labour export program, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions."

Rubio, in the statement posted in the US Department of State's website, added that this policy also applies to the immediate family of such people.

"The department has already taken steps to impose visa restrictions on several individuals, including Venezuelans, under this expanded policy."

Contacted for comment on this latest US government policy, Browne told Newsday, "Cofcor held a meeting on this issue this morning (February 28) and has agreed to seek clarification from the (US) State Department on behalf of member states in the region."

Cofcor is a Caricom body that co-ordinates foreign policy and promotes co-operation among member states. It also works with international organisations and third states for the furtherance of the interests of Caricom member states.

Rubio, in the statement, claimed that Cuba continues to profit from the forced labour of its workers and that that regime’s abusive and coercive labour practices have been well documented.

"Cuba’s labour export programmes, which include the medical missions, enrich the Cuban regime, and in the case of Cuba’s overseas medical missions, deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their home country," Rubio said.

He added that the US remains committed to countering forced labour practices around the globe.

"To do so, we must promote accountability not just for Cuban officials responsible for these policies, but also those complicit in the exploitation and forced labour of Cuban workers."

A release on the Cuban embassy's website said on July 20, 2023, the Ministry of Health together with collaborators of the Cuban Medical Brigade celebrated on July 19, the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban medical collaboration in TT.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and Cuban ambassador Tania Diego Olite chaired the function.

According to the statement on the embassy's website, Deyalsingh thanked Cuba for its help over the past 20 years in providing doctors and nurses to augment service in TT's health sector.

A ministry source told Newsday it was "highly unlikely" this new US foreign policy would target TT's officials in any way.

"It is more likely Cubans and Venezuelans involved in the design and higher levels of the program who could be targeted," the source said.

Browne said that a meeting is being arranged for the second week of March between Cofcor ministers and US Envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone, in Washington, DC.

Prime Minister Dr Rowley and Mrs Rowley are currently in the US.