Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has declared her unwavering support for the Cuban health brigade programme, stating she is willing to have her United States (US) visa revoked rather than back down on the issue. She urged Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations to defend the contributions of Cuban healthcare professionals to the region.
“This matter, with the Cubans and the nurses, should tell us everything that we need to know. Barbados does not currently have Cuban medical staff or Cuban nurses, but I will be the first to go to the line and to tell you that we could not get through the (COVID-19) pandemic without the Cuban nurses and the Cuban doctors,” Mottley said in Parliament.
The United States has questioned the Cuban medical programme, which Caricom leaders have consistently defended as a crucial benefit to their countries. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced an expansion of Washington’s Cuba-related visa restriction policy, which targets individuals allegedly involved in forced labour linked to the Cuban labour export programme.
“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 labour export programme, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions,” Rubio stated.
The Florida senator, himself the son of Cuban immigrants, noted that the new policy also applies to immediate family members of those supporting the Cuban programme. He added that visa restrictions have already been imposed on several individuals, including Venezuelans.
Caribbean leaders fully support Cuban medical missions
Caribbean leaders, including the prime ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, have publicly supported the Cuban initiative. Grenada’s Foreign Minister Joseph Andall has also reinforced his country’s “legal, moral, and ethical obligation” to stand by Cuba, warning against opportunistic or transactional relations with Havana.
Mottley, the latest Caricom leader to speak on the issue, strongly refuted claims that engaging Cuban healthcare professionals amounted to human trafficking.
“I would be the first to inform the world that Cuban health professionals have been paid the same thing that we pay Bajans (Barbadians), and that the notion, as was peddled not just by this government in the US, but the previous government, that we were involved in human trafficking by engaging with the Cuban nurses was fully repudiated and rejected by us.”
Asserting her stance, Mottley made it clear that she prioritizes principle over personal convenience. “Now, I don’t believe that we have to shout across the seas, but I am prepared, like others in this region, that if we cannot reach a sensible agreement on this matter, then if the cost of it is the loss of my visa to the US, then so be it. But what matters to us is principles. And I have said over and over that principles only mean something when it is inconvenient to stand by it. Now we don’t have to shout, but we can be resolute.”
The Barbados leader, currently the only female head of government in the Caribbean, reaffirmed her solidarity with her Caricom counterparts. “I look forward to standing with my Caricom brothers… to be able to ensure that we explain that what the Cubans have been able to do for us, far from approximating itself to human trafficking, has been to save lives and limbs and sight for many a Caribbean person.”
