Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced expanded visa restrictions for members of the Cuban government participating in the ‘exploitation’ of medical workers.
Secretary Rubio’s visa restrictions announcement follows reports that the Communist Cuban regime is profiting off the forced labor of Cuban doctors.
“Cuba continues to profit from the forced labor of its workers and the regime’s abusive and coercive labor practices are well documented,” claimed Rubio. “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.”
Rubio’s new visa restrictions limit the legal travel capacity current or former Cuban government officials, and other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be involved in or responsible for Cuba’s overseas medical missions.
More than 40,000 Cuban doctors are reportedly spread throughout the world in diverse 'medical missions.'
However, myriad concerns have been raised regarding the process by which such doctors are paid, with critics and some former doctors alleging their wages are withheld by the Cuban government and then funneled into the regime’s military.
Former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs Otto Reich explained Cuba’s foreign doctor missions as a nefarious and lucrative source of revenue for the Cuban government.
“Under the guise of a ‘voluntary, humanitarian, internationalist program,’ Cuba generates between $8 billion and $11 billion every year from the forced labor of doctors and medical workers exported to foreign countries,” claimed Reich.
According to Reich, the doctors are closely watched by Cuban intelligence, have 80-90% of their salary diverted to the Cuban government, and are forced to use their services as leverage for political purposes, such as withholding treatment from patients opposing the Cuban regime.
Representative Maria Elvira-Salazar (R-FL), the daughter of Cuban exiles, commended Rubio for his expansion of visa restrictions.
“Secretary Rubio sent Havana a clear message,” stated Representative Salazar. “Those who traffic people and exploit that labor are equally complicit in the regime’s brutal repression of rights and freedom. You are NOT welcome in the United States!”
