Submitted by Tee White
On 25 February, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, issued a press statement in which he announced the expansion of the US’ Cuba-related visa restriction policy. Under this expansion, the US declared that going forward, it would restrict the issuing of visas to foreign government officials who are in any way connected with Cuba’s medical missions. This restriction would also apply to their immediate families. In justifying its new move, the State Department put forward the deliberately fabricated lie that Cuba’s medical missions are a form of forced labour and this action is intended to curb the “exploitation and forced labour of Cuban workers”.
With this announcement, the current US administration signaled to the entire Caribbean that it intends to intensify its efforts to isolate and strangle Cuba and that to achieve this, it would directly attack the provision of health care to thousands of people across the region. This callous and inhumane attitude of directly holding the welfare of ordinary citizens hostage in order to achieve its political objective of overthrowing the Cuban government has been a consistent feature of the over 60 year-long US blockade of Cuba. In the now infamous memorandum 499 issued on 6 April 1960, by then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Lestor D. Mallory, the US stated clearly that in its aim to overthrow the Cuban government, it would carry out actions designed to bring about hunger and desperation among ordinary Cubans. The recent expansion of the visa restriction policy by Rubio is based on this same outlook but now the aim is not only to cause suffering to ordinary Cubans but also to people across the Caribbean who are in need of health care.
As a result of hundreds of years of enslavement and colonial oppression, coupled with the region’s neo-colonial position within the global capitalist system, health care systems within the region are woefully inadequate to meet the population’s needs. As a result, thousands of people are unable to access appropriate health care. This situation is compounded by the fact that there is a brain drain of regional health care professionals who are routinely recruited into North America and Europe. Generally, across the region, access to health care is a market commodity that individuals must pay for privately. Those who cannot afford it have to fall back on the public health care system which is massively under resourced and unable to respond adequately to the demands on it. Not surprisingly, in this situation, the Caribbean has some of the world’s highest rates of death from non-communicable diseases. It is to fill this breach that Cuba carries out medical co-operation with many countries across the region. In some states, Cuban medical personnel play a critical role in the public health care system and withdrawing them would lead to its collapse.
Given this reality, the response from the entire region has been unanimous in rejecting this latest US move. Regardless of political persuasion, media houses, political leaders, Cuban solidarity organisations and others have come out in one voice to reject Rubio’s attack as a malicious assault on our sovereignty and the welfare of our people. CNSC adds it voice to this chorus and calls on the entire region to stick together and defend the vital medical co-operation that Cuba offers us. We must stick together and cannot allow the divide and conquer strategy that Trump used against us in his first presidency. As one we must demand that this policy is withdrawn and that the US respect the sovereignty of our countries.
Say no to this new US attack on our sovereignty!
Defend Cuba’s medical co-operation with the Caribbean!
Caribbean Network for Solidarity with Cuba (CNSC)
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