This move comes after both Jamaica and Guyana acknowledged that they have been unable to restructure their respective long-standing agreements with Cuba in providing healthcare workers, which has left them seeking alternative solutions to address their healthcare needs.
The United States‘ increasing pressure prompted these announcements, which came days apart. This refers to the use of Cuban medical personnel by Caribbean governments. The Trump administration has for months been threatening sanctions against nations that employ Cuban healthcare workers. The rationale is that the wages of these workers are often withheld and paid to the Cuban government, which then compensates the physicians and other medical workers with only a fraction of that amount. Additionally, workers are often deprived of their passports, which restricts their movements.
Last month, the State Department reiterated its call for an end to the exploitation, including forced labour, in the illegitimate Cuban regime’s overseas medical missions programme. The post on X was issued by the U.S. embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados. The tweet was following statements by Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, saying that Washington was using his country’s relationship with Cuba as leverage. These medical brigades have been a key revenue source to the Cuban government for many years.
With the pressures imposed upon the Caribbean nations over their use of Cuba’s medical brigade, the U.S. asked Saint Lucia to halt sending its nationals for studies to Cuba. Pierre was quoted as saying that he has a big problem since many of Saint Lucia’s physicians are Cuban-trained. It’s complex when the U.S. stops permitting this operation, as Pierre shared with the World Congress on Racial & Ethnic Health. Managing a small country like Saint Lucia, or like Saint Vincent, or even Granada, becomes a challenging task that many outsiders to these small nations may find difficult to comprehend.
