CARICOM leaders rail against Rubio’s Cuba visa policy

Two leading and influential Caribbean Community leaders this week came out forcefully against plans by the Trump administration to cancel visas of regional government officials because various governments have employed Cuban medical professionals to work in their health sectors over the decades.

Outgoing Trinidadian Prime Minister Keith Rowley and Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves have both lashed out at the initiative, saying they would lose no sleep if their visas were ever canceled and they never returned to the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio enunciated the policy recently, saying those linked to the practice of hiring Cuban professionals in their health are participating in human trafficking and would lose their visas. He also indicated that Cuban authorities are using the professional export system to earn American dollars to use in development, circumventing various sanctions and restrictions in place over the decades.

Speaking with reporters a day after returning from California, Rowley exuded defiance, saying the system needs Cuban and other foreign professionals.

“There are local people here encouraging them to take away our US visas. I came back from California, and if I never go back there again in my life, I will ensure that the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is known to its people and respected by all. We rely heavily on healthcare specialists whom we have obtained from India, the Philippines, and mainly from Cuba over the decades. Out of the blue, we are being called human traffickers because we hire technical people who we pay top dollars equal to local rates but we’re now being accused of taking part in the program where people are being exploited. That is someone’s interpretation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avery Browne has confirmed that a high-level meeting on Cuban and other issues took place in Washington on Sunday, but the Guyana-based regional secretariat has not commented.
The Guardian newspaper, however, quoted Browne as saying the two sides had a cordial meeting.

“Yesterday (Sunday) evening’s meeting with US Special Envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone went extremely well. His dialogue with me and other foreign ministers lasted about one and a half hours and was conducted in a relaxed, engaging, and productive spirit. The secretary-general of CARICOM and one assistant secretary-general were also present with us. The discussions were wide-ranging, with some specific focus on the current US policies on Cuba, as well as the issues of migration, regional security, energy security, and Haiti. This was designed as an initial interface, and more substantive exchanges are anticipated in the near future with the special envoy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other key members of the current US administration,” he stated.

Vincentian PM Gonsalves, meanwhile, pointed out, for example, that the national dialysis program being offered to dozens of people in his federation would collapse without the Cuban brigade.

“Without the Cubans there, I would not be able to offer this service. So, does anybody expect that I, because I want to keep a visa, would allow 60 people from the poor and working people to die? It will never happen,” he said on a radio program.

He also railed against the belief that Cuban doctors who pay a percentage of their salaries to the government are a form of human trafficking and exploitation, suggesting he saw nothing wrong with this.

“It is said that the Cuban professionals who are here under the agreement with the Cuban government, they had to pay, I don’t know if it’s 10 % or 15 %, whatever it is, of their salary to the Cuban government. But that does not mean that they are exploited. They got a free education. And if they’re going overseas and making money from that education, it’s not unreasonable for them to put back something in the kitty for more people to be educated. We put our people on bond. The American federal government lends money, and people have to pay back the loans,” he argued. “I will prefer to lose my visa than to have 60 poor and working people die.”