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Leaders of The Caribbean Group, extensively often called CARICOM, have made information just lately with their response to points sparked by the Donald Trump regime and his diplomatic stooge, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. At subject is the U.S. authorities’s menace to strip visas from Cuban medical personnel, and accusations that Cuba is working an “exploitative labor export program.”
The Caribbean leaders posted this official assertion on March 17:
CARICOM ministers defend Cuban medical assist, criticise US visa withdrawal
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is predicted to go to the Caribbean earlier than the tip of March to fulfill with CARICOM governments to debate amongst different issues the choice by the Trump Administration to revoke the visas of Caribbean facilitating Cuba’s medical missions to the area and elsewhere. (Background Cuba Briefing 3 March 2025)
The announcement follows a gathering on 9 March in Washington between Caribbean Overseas Ministers and the US Particular Envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mauricio Claver-Carone, throughout which the difficulty was mentioned.
On the assembly, Washington promoted the concept that Cuban medical personnel working abroad ought to be capable of earn and promote their providers in a fashion that’s impartial from the Cuban state and have the identical office rights as most regional staff do underneath the Worldwide Labour Organisation’s multilaterally agreed conventions. It was additionally careworn that the brand new US sanctions regarding Cuba utilized to nations in lots of different components of the world together with in Africa, the Gulf, and Europe, which are receiving Cuban medical brigades. The US additionally sought to have CARICOM governments undertake what had been described as honest monetary negotiations with Cuba.
Farah Najjar make clear the difficulty in an AlJazeera article entitled, “Why are Caribbean leaders fighting Trump to keep Cuban doctors?”:
Caribbean leaders have hit again at a menace issued by the USA authorities to cancel visas for anybody working with or supporting Cuban medical services, citing allegations of compelled labour and claiming these missions “enrich the Cuban regime”.
Cuban medical missions, which offer medical doctors, nurses and different medical employees in addition to medical services, are crucial to healthcare techniques within the Caribbean.
The concentrating on of Cuban medical missions is just not new for US President Donald Trump’s administration. Throughout his first time period as president of the US from 2017 to 2021, his administration imposed visa sanctions on Cuba’s world medical programme. His authorities claimed these missions amounted to “human trafficking” as a result of, it stated, Cuban medical doctors are reportedly underpaid.
This time round, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has introduced restrictions on visas for presidency officers in Cuba and anybody else, globally, that the US deems to be “complicit” with Cuba’s international medical programmes. The State Division stated the restrictions would prolong to “current and former officials” in addition to the “immediate family of such persons”.
Emma Louis at World Voices wrote “Caribbean leaders and citizens fiercely defend the Cuban Medical Cooperation Programme”:
So far as the Caribbean is anxious, medical help from Cuba — which acquired underway within the mid-Seventies when Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados and others established diplomatic relations with the nation — has been crucial in serving to to avoid wasting lives. An editorial in The Jamaica Gleaner identified that Cuba has a higher-than-average proportion of educated medical personnel than both the USA or Jamaica, the latter being woefully in need of nurses specifically:
“Marco Rubio’s plan to sanction countries for using Cuban doctors and nurses in their health systems is nothing short of callous, cruel and vindictive.
If Mr Rubio possesses a scintilla of decency, he should immediately rescind the policy, whose hurt will be felt not only by Cuba, but by poor people in Africa, Asia and the Americas, including several Caribbean countries, Jamaica among them. It will cost lives, and, possibly, the unintended consequence of adding to the factors that drive illegal migrants from their home countries to the United States. Which is something the Trump administration is vehemently against.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves didn’t mince phrases in his response to the U.S. and his protection of Cuban medical doctors.
Kawsachun Information video observe:
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stands agency on Cuba’s medical missions saying 60 poor and dealing folks on hemodialysis might die if Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had been to chop this system.
The Guardian’s Caribbean correspondent Natricia Duncan wrote, “Caribbean leaders deny Cuban health workers are victims of ‘forced labor’”:
The prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) stated his authorities has offered proof to the US that Cuban well being staff within the nation will not be victims of human trafficking, because the Trump administration takes intention on the medical missions.
Talking upfront of US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s go to to the Caribbean on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated he was assured that the knowledge he offered would settle US issues concerning the deal underneath which Cuban medical professionals work in SVG.
Rubio, who’s the kid of Cuban immigrants, introduced in February the enlargement of an current coverage to focus on “forced labor” and “abusive and coercive labor practices”, which he claimed had been a part of Cuba’s abroad medical missions.
However Caribbean leaders have constantly rejected the claims of human trafficking and careworn the essential function the Cuban medical professionals play in saving lives within the area.
I observe Caribbean VLogger @Carib21 Community and it was fascinating to listen to his take:
The World Debate Channel posted this information report titled, “Caribbean Leaders REFUSE U.S. Strain: Selecting Cuban Medical doctors Over Visas—We Stand With Cuba!”
Caribbean nations are making a strong stand in opposition to U.S. strain as they select Cuban medical doctors over U.S. visa insurance policies. With tensions rising, these international locations are prioritizing healthcare over diplomatic ties. However what does this imply for the area’s future?
On this video, we break down the daring choice by Caribbean leaders to face with Cuba and its medical assist. From defying U.S. strain to bettering healthcare techniques, we’ll dive into how this transfer might reshape the Caribbean’s political and financial panorama. May this choice change the way forward for Caribbean-U.S. relationsWhy Caribbean nations are prioritizing Cuban medical doctors over U.S. visas.The rising affect of Cuba within the Caribbean healthcare sector.The influence of this choice on Caribbean-U.S. relations and future diplomatic ties.How this daring transfer might have an effect on the area’s medical infrastructure and worldwide partnerships.
What’s at stake? The Caribbean is caught between two world powers—Cuba and the U.S. This crucial choice by Caribbean nations might dramatically shift their future. Will this defiance set the stage for larger independence from U.S. affect? This video covers every little thing it’s essential find out about how this transfer might reshape the Caribbean’s diplomatic future
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley weighed in with an announcement on the Cuban medical employees:
This matter, with the Cubans and the nurses, ought to inform us every little thing that we have to know. Barbados doesn’t at the moment have Cuban medical employees or Cuban nurses, however I would be the first to go to the road and to let you know that we couldn’t get via the pandemic with out the Cuban nurses and the Cuban medical doctors. I may also be the primary to let you know that we paid them the identical factor that we pay Bajans, and that the notion, as was peddled not simply by this authorities within the U.S., however the earlier authorities, that we had been concerned in human trafficking by partaking with the Cuban nurses was absolutely repudiated and rejected by us. Now, I do not consider that we have now to shout throughout the seas, however I’m ready, like others on this area, that if we can not attain a wise settlement on this matter, then if the price of it’s the lack of my visa, to the U.S., then so be it.However what issues to us is ideas. And I’ve stated time and again that ideas solely imply one thing when it’s inconvenient to face by it. Now we do not have to shout, however we will be resolute. And I subsequently sit up for standing with my CARICOM brothers, I want I might say brothers and sisters, however brothers, to have the ability to be certain that we clarify that what the Cubans have been in a position to do for us, removed from approximating itself to human trafficking, has been to avoid wasting lives and limbs and sight for a lot of a Caribbean particular person.
The opposite key Trump regime subject affecting the Caribbean is his journey ban.
The Miami Herald’s Caribbean reporter Jacqueline Charles reported “Caribbean leaders push back on U.S. travel-ban threats, ask Washington for clarity”:
The leaders of a number of Caribbean governments being focused underneath a proposed U.S. journey ban say they’ve obtained no formal notifications from the Trump administration that their nation is amongst dozens of nations whose nationals may very well be shut out of the USA. The Miami Herald was first to verify that together with Cuba and Venezuela, which might be hit with an absolute ban on their nationals getting into the U.S., Haiti and another Caribbean international locations would additionally face restrictions on their nationals touring to the U.S. The next day, the New York Occasions named 43 international locations into account, and which of the three tiers every would fall underneath within the plan being crafted by Trump adviser Stephen Mill
The proposal would severely limit entry to the USA, together with for high-ranking authorities officers, and has caught many Caribbean nationals without warning. It’s creating consternation not simply from a coverage standpoint, however amongst individuals who have youngsters and different kin dwelling within the U.S. and can be unable to journey right here even when they’ve a sound visa. The proposal comes amid continued push-back from Caribbean leaders over U.S. visa cancellation threats over their governments’ employment of Cuban medical doctors. Final month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced that the State Division is taking steps to cancel the visas of anybody taking part in Cuba’s medical missions, which deploy nurses and medical doctors to international locations world wide, together with within the Caribbean. “There’s nothing we’re not afraid to answer to. We have been very transparent. We engage governments in transparency. People know us. What we say in the night, is what we say in the day; our word is our bond,” Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit stated Monday throughout a press convention when requested about experiences that his tiny nation is among the many 4 Japanese Caribbean international locations focused for a ban. “We are prepared to engage everyone, including the United States, in this matter. So whatever concerns the United States may have, which I do not know of yet, we are prepared to respond.”
Below the proposal, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia can be on the third tier of the proposed journey ban, and would have 60 days to handle officers’ issues with a view to have entry to the U.S. restored. Haiti is on the second tier; its nationals would face barely much less harsh restrictions than these on the primary tier, which incorporates Cuba. Haitians desirous to journey would wish to request a waiver to the ban.
Keka Araújo at Black Enterprise posted “Caribbean Outrage Erupts As Trump’s U.S. Travel Ban Threatens Families And Diplomacy”:
Caribbean leaders denounced a proposed U.S. journey ban that might block entry for nationals from a number of nations, together with high-ranking officers. The coverage, reportedly crafted by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, has sparked outrage throughout the area, with leaders accusing the administration of unilateral motion and sowing pointless chaos.
The three-tiered journey ban targets 43 nations, together with Haiti, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia. Some international locations face outright restrictions, whereas others, like Haiti, would require waivers for his or her residents to enter the USA.
[…]
The proposed ban additionally threatens Citizenship by Funding Packages (CBIPs) operated by some Caribbean nations. These packages enable international nationals to buy citizenship for monetary funding, granting them visa-free entry to quite a few international locations.
Critics, together with U.S. officers, have raised issues concerning the lack of transparency in these packages, and their diplomatic notes to the U.S. State Division, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis emphasised their rigorous vetting procedures.
Antigua’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, said, “All applications are rigorously vetted by recognized international agencies, including INTERPOL, to ensure that no applicants with a criminal background or current charges—including terrorism—are considered.”
Allow us to not overlook the influence of the Trump administration decimating USAID, lined on this Caribbean Focus report:
Caribbean Focus video observe:
The Trump administration’s stunning 90-day freeze on international support has despatched shockwaves throughout the Caribbean, threatening to dismantle crucial packages that maintain hundreds of thousands protected, secure, and safe. Billions of {dollars} in U.S. funding at the moment are on maintain, placing Jamaica’s anti-violence packages, Haiti’s struggle in opposition to gang rule, and The Bahamas’ local weather resilience efforts in danger.This choice might destabilize total nations, cripple economies, and even open the door for geopolitical rivals like China to increase their affect within the area. From safety threats and financial turmoil to authorized battles and political backlash, this funding freeze might have dire penalties for the Caribbean—and for U.S. pursuits.What occurs subsequent? Will Caribbean nations survive with out U.S. assist, or is that this the start of a brand new energy shift within the area? Stick round as we break down the true influence of this sudden choice, from the Japanese Caribbean to Guyana, Suriname, and past.
Whereas a lot of our day by day information protection right here within the U.S. is targeted on different components of the globe, we can not afford to look away or ignore our nation’s unfavorable influence on our Caribbean neighbors. Be part of me within the feedback part under for extra and for the weekly Caribbean information roundup.
