Yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek carried an advertisement from the Ministry of Public Service notifying of a collaboration between the governments of Guyana and Cuba for scholarships in a variety of areas including Human Medicine, Cyto-Histopathology, Medical Biophysics and Anaesthesia. It underlined again the generosity of the Cuban people to their Caribbean brothers and sisters and the longstanding ties between George-town and Havana that cannot be undermined by the latest démarche from the Trump administration related to Cuban medical personnel.
Also in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek was a Reuters report on Cuba’s capital Havana being in darkness for a second night after the island’s power grid collapsed on Friday evening. Most Cubans outside Havana have already been living for months with rolling blackouts that peaked at 20 hours a day in recent weeks, Reuters said.
Yet, in spite of all of these hardships, deepened by the more than six-decade, unconscionable US trade embargo on the island, the Trump administration has seen it fit to turn the screws on an important form of medical support for developing countries that also benefits the Cuban economy. On top of that, sanctions have been threatened against personnel in countries like Guyana that benefit from the heroic Cuban medical brigades.
On February 25th, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced “the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labor linked to the Cuban labor 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 labor export program, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions. This policy also applies to the immediate family of such persons. The Department has already taken steps to impose visa restrictions on several individuals, including Venezuelans, under this expanded policy”.
He further charged that “Cuba continues to profit from the forced labor of its workers and the regime’s abusive and coercive labor practices are well documented. Cuba’s labor export programs, 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. The United States is committed to countering forced labor 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 labor of Cuban workers”.
If it was indeed that Washington was truly concerned about forced labour and it had been a widespread and chronic problem then one might have seen some reason behind it. However, it is evident that given Mr Rubio’s hardline position on Cuba and Mr Trump’s base in Florida that this is simply the perpetuation of a pernicious policy to further immiserize the Cuban people while Messrs Trump and Rubio cosy up to dictators committing horrendous human rights abuses elsewhere.
No diktat should be tolerated from Washington on relations with Cuba. Caribbean countries are well-prepared to determine whether persons are being trafficked, ironically as a result of the annual US State Department ranking of countries on human trafficking, which has led to stepped up efforts to recognise the problem. There are some concerns about the conditions under which Cuban medical experts provide labour including that they do not negotiate their own contracts or working conditions.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on the issue, Tamarys Bahamonde, an economist at the US-based Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, said the matter is “complex” and should focus on the voices of the doctors themselves.
“Regardless of whether Cuban doctors qualify as forced labour, we do know that they do not negotiate their own contracts or working conditions,” she said.
“Cuba retains a significant portion of their salaries, and there are testimonies from doctors confirming restrictions on movement, confiscation of passports by Cuban authorities in host countries, and limitations on bringing their families along.”
At the same time, Ms Bahamonde reiterated the crucial role that Cuban medical professionals play, especially when it comes to providing healthcare services to underserved communities.
Caribbean countries are well able to determine for themselves whether there are signs of such exploitation and must raise this firmly with Havana.
While some CARICOM heads have strongly rejected this US interference in the region’s relations with Cuba, the movement as a whole has to get its act together. In the first Trump term CARICOM was woefully split on how to deal with his administration. The outlandish and outrageous trajectory of this administration thus far with eyes on the Panama Canal, tariffs hanging over heads like the Sword of Damocles and threats to suspend travel for nationals of some countries requires unanimity within CARICOM and 15 votes at every forum where it counts. In the same way that CARICOM was able to mobilise for the election of Albert Ramdin as Secretary-General of the OAS, it has to present a united stance and reach out to Latin America otherwise it will stand little chance of defending its positions. Its ambassadors in Washington must also be able to lobby the US Congress to push back against policies inimical to the region.
Georgetown seems to have opened up its own channels to Washington on this but there must be a regionwide position and Guyana should be one of those leading the way. This country has benefited enormously from both Cuban medical brigades and Cuban medical education. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Cuban people and we must continue to support them in their historic battle for economic survival and self-sufficiency. With its new-found oil wealth, Guyana is increasingly in a position to return the favour. There should be bipartisan support in Parliament for sustained assistance to Cuba so it can weather the storms it faces.
At the eighth CARICOM-Cuba summit in Barba-dos in December of 2022 celebrating 50 years of diplomatic ties, the Bridgetown Declaration alighted on truths that are relevant in the current debate. It recognised “with appreciation the medical cooperation between CARICOM and Cuba and its invaluable contribution to the wellbeing of Caribbean people; in particular, the significant contribution of the Cuban Medical Brigades to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic”.
It also railed against the extra-territorial impositions of the type envisaged by Mr Rubio.
“We reiterate our firm rejection of the enforcement of extra-territorial laws and measures such as the Helms-Burton Act, which grossly violate international law and undermine the sovereignty and interest of third parties”.
That is a good starting point for CARICOM to address this latest attack on Cuba and the rights of the people of this region to determine the conduct of their relations.
