Multiple people linked to Cuban medical scheme now face U.S. sanctions
Aug. 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department on Wednesday imposed visa restrictions on foreign government officials accused of assisting the Cuban regime in a scheme exploiting medical professionals.
Officials from several African nations, Cuba and Grenada, as well as their families, were sanctioned, the State Department said in a news release.
"We are committed to ending this practice," Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X. "Countries who are complicit in this exploitative practice should think twice."
Rubio said "several" African nations were sanctioned. Marco and the news release didn't name that continent's countries or the officials involved there, as well as Cuba and Grenada.
In the described scheme, they were complicit with the Cuban government, in which medical professionals were "rented" by other countries at higher prices, with most of the revenue kept by the Cuban authorities, the State Department alleged.
They were involved in "depriving the Cubans of essential care," the State Department said.
"The United States continues to engage governments, and will take action as needed, to bring an end to such forced labor," the release said. "We urge governments to pay the doctors directly for their services, not the regime slave masters."
The federal agency urged governments to end this method of forced labor.
Cuba is accused of sending the workers to some 50 countries for little or no pay at long hours, keeping their passports, confiscating medical credentials, and subjecting them to surveillance and curfews. Many of them reported being sexually abused by their supervisors. If they left the program, they faced repercussions.
In June, the U.S. agency imposed visa restrictions on unspecified Central American government officials for being involved in the medical mission program.
Rubio at the time described a similar scheme in which "officials responsible for Cuban medical missions programs that include elements of forced labor and the exploitation of Cuban workers."
In June, Havana's foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said the visa restrictions were "based on falsehoods and coercion."
In late May, the State Department suspended the applications for J-1 visas, which allow people to come to the United States for exchange visitor programs. One week later, the department resumed visa interviews, but people seeking the visas were required to make their social media accounts public.
This year, more than 6,600 non-U.S. citizen doctors were accepted into residency programs, according to the National Resident Matching Program. Many residents go into underserved communities because they are less popular among U.S. applicants.
Medical professionals comprised 75% of Cuba's exported workforce, generating $4.9 billion of its total $7 billion in 2022, according to the State Department's 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report.
"Traffickers exploit Cuban citizens in sex trafficking and forced labor in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Latin America and the United States," the report said."
Simultaneously, the U.S. government has fully restricted and limited people from 12 foreign countries in June. Cuba was among seven nations with restricted and limited entry.
"These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants," the order states about the two designations," a proclamation by President Donald Trump reads.
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