CARICOM governments are urgently in search of a gathering with the Trump administration to handle latest threats of proscribing visa entry for officers related to the Cuban medical brigade working within the Caribbean. The push for this assembly follows considerations that such actions might severely disrupt the area’s healthcare sector, which has lengthy relied on Cuban medical professionals.
The Cuban medical program, which has operated for over 40 years, includes Cuban docs, nurses, biomedical engineers, and different specialists offering important companies throughout the Caribbean. This collaboration has been significantly essential in filling gaps in healthcare the place native shortages exist. Nevertheless, the Trump administration, underneath Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has introduced plans to broaden current visa restrictions, concentrating on Cuban authorities officers and overseas officers concerned within the Cuban labor export program. Rubio’s stance, which characterizes the Cuban medical mission as “human trafficking,” has been met with robust rejection from regional leaders.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda spoke out in opposition to the accusations, vehemently denying any involvement in human trafficking. He emphasised that Cuban healthcare employees are very important to the area’s medical infrastructure, with many nations depending on them for core companies. Browne warned that the proposed visa restrictions might dismantle the Caribbean’s healthcare system and put the lives of residents in danger. He additionally criticized what he considered as extraterritorial actions by the US, urging the US to rethink its stance.
Jamaican Overseas Minister Kamina Johnson Smith echoed related considerations. She identified that Jamaica has over 400 Cuban professionals working in its healthcare system, spanning numerous roles corresponding to docs, nurses, and technicians. The lack of these professionals would deeply have an effect on the healthcare system, which depends on their experience to handle vital healthcare wants.
The long-standing relationship between Cuba and CARICOM dates again to 1975, when a number of Caribbean nations, together with Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados, established diplomatic ties with Cuba. Through the years, the 2 areas have constructed robust relations, significantly within the healthcare sector, regardless of pressures from the US. CARICOM leaders have constantly defended Cuba’s function in offering healthcare help to the area, asserting that these professionals provide invaluable companies, particularly throughout well being crises such because the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has additionally weighed in, stating that she is ready to face private penalties, together with the potential revocation of her US visa, in protection of the Cuban medical program. Mottley praised Cuban docs and nurses for his or her contributions through the pandemic and emphasised that the Caribbean’s help for this system is rooted in rules of solidarity and the life-saving affect of Cuban professionals within the area.
The US authorities’s stance on the Cuban medical program has sparked a broader debate inside CARICOM about the way forward for regional cooperation and its relations with the US. Whereas a number of CARICOM nations, together with Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, have publicly supported the Cuban program, the specter of visa restrictions stays a big concern for the area.
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