US to revoke visas of government officials from countries with Cuban medics

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.