Cecilia Paz April 12, 2025 Liberation
Cuban doctors arrive in South Africa in 2020 to support efforts to curb COVID-19. Credit: Flickr/governmentza (CC BY-ND 2.0)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wants to end Cuba’s international medical brigades, which have provided essential healthcare to millions of people across the globe. On Feb. 25, Rubio restricted the visas of anyone involved in Cuba’s overseas medical missions. This includes doctors, their families, and foreign officials who work with Cuban doctors.
Rubio claims that the medical missions — which provide essential health care to millions of people across the Global South — are actually “forced labor” in disguise. On April 7, Florida Congressman Carlos Gimenez went a step further, claiming that the United States should impose sanctions on foreign governments that have benefited from Cuba’s medical missions. These escalations in U.S. aggression towards Cuba represent a threat to international health, and have already been condemned by multiple foreign governments.
Cuba’s history of medical internationalism
Cuba’s medical missions are the crown jewel in their commitment to socialist internationalism. After the socialist revolution in 1959, the Cuban government immediately began making massive investments in education and scientific research. Since then, Cuba has had free universal healthcare, free medical schools, and medical and biotechnology research has been entirely government-funded. Today, they have the highest doctors per capita in the world. Even though crippling U.S. sanctions prohibit access to needed medicine and equipment, Cuba has a higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rate than the U.S. And since the early years of socialist construction, Cuba has not limited the gains of the revolution to itself–it shares them with the world.
Just four years after the revolution, Cuba sent its first medical mission to Algeria. After Algeria won independence from French colonizers, it found itself in a healthcare crisis. A team of 54 Cuban healthcare workers volunteered to help fill the gap left by the departure of French doctors. In the decades since, Cuba has sent over 600,000 healthcare professionals to over 160 countries. This includes short-term emergency deployments after natural disasters, vaccination campaigns, and extended stays to help fill systemic healthcare gaps.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Cuba offered to send over 1,500 doctors and 36 tons of medicine to the U.S. Not only did the Bush administration allow nearly 1,400 Americans to die due to their inadequate disaster response, but they also refused Cuba’s offer of solidarity. In defiance of U.S. aggression and to the benefit of the world, Cuba then doubled down on its medical internationalism after Katrina. Castro renamed the medical missions “the Henry Reeves International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disasters and Serious Epidemics.” Henry Reeves was an American soldier who fought in Cuba’s first war for independence in 1876. Shortly after Katrina, Cuba sent 27 brigades to 19 countries.
The Henry Reeves brigades focus on underserved communities and building solidarity between peoples impacted by imperialism. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the 2013 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Cuban doctors were first responders. Starting in 2013, Cuba sent 8,500 doctors to Brazil to provide free healthcare to rural indigenous communities. Thanks in large part to this program, the child mortality rate dropped by up to 10% in some parts of rural Brazil. When right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro took power in 2018, he banished Cuban doctors, which threatened the health care of 28 million people.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of countries called on Cuba for support. By September 2020, Cuba sent over 4,000 doctors to 40 countries. In poor countries like Haiti, Jamaica, and Togo, Cuban aid helped form the backbone of national COVID response. While the U.S. hoarded vaccines and intellectual property, Cuba produced five vaccines and shared them with other underresourced and sanctioned countries. Domestically, Cuba had a significantly lower mortality rate and higher vaccination rate than the U.S..
Many countries who receive Cuban doctors pay both the doctors and the Cuban government. The crippling U.S. blockade prevents Cuba from accessing foreign banks or trading with any country that trades with the U.S., meaning that the Henry Reeves Brigades are one of the only ways Cuba can access much-needed foreign capital. Cuba also exchanges medical services for goods, for example, Venezuela exchanges subsidized oil. The income from Cuba’s medical brigades are reinvested into its healthcare system and other public services.
However, Cuba continues to send completely free brigades to countries in need, and also treats foreign patients in Cuban hospitals. In 2004, they launched a program called “Operación Milagro” (Operation Miracle) in partnership with socialist Venezuela that has provided millions of free eye surgeries to people with reversible blindness. They also welcome foreign medical students to study free of charge at their acclaimed medical schools, including students from the U.S..
Given Cuba’s widespread commitment to global health, it’s no surprise that dozens of countries — including many U.S. allies — have come to Cuba’s defense since February. The leaders of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica recently emphasized the importance of Cuban medical brigades to their countries and denied allegations of “forced labor” and “human trafficking.”
Every accusation is a confession
Rubio’s claim that Cuban doctors are victims of “forced labor” is entirely unfounded. The program is completely voluntary. The Cuban socialist education system emphasizes compassion and collective care, and after receiving free medical training, many Cubans are inspired to continue their country’s legacy of internationalism. Cuban doctors actually make more money abroad than they do in Cuba, which they can use to support themselves and their families. The fact that the Cuban government is also paid for the missions is an added bonus, because it ensures that Cuba can continue to strengthen its healthcare system and other services for the people.
In fact, many of Rubio’s claims about Cuba would better describe healthcare in the U.S. Rubio states that Cuban medical missions “deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their own country.” Actually, 100% of Cubans receive free healthcare because it is treated as a universal human right under the socialist system. In contrast, 45% of Americans struggle to access healthcare. This is because under U.S. capitalism, private insurance companies, hospital corporations, and Big Pharma are allowed to make trillions of dollars in profits selling healthcare as a commodity. In fact, two-thirds of people who declare bankruptcy in the U.S. cite medical bills as the primary cause.
Rubio himself is a staunch supporter of Trump’s moves to privatize Medicare, fire thousands of public health workers, and slash Medicaid by $880 billion, policies which will deprive tens of millions of Americans of healthcare in the name of reducing government spending. Yet Cuba spends about one tenth of what the U.S. does per person on healthcare and has better outcomes. They are able to save money and resources by focusing on preventative care. Neighborhood-based “polyclinics” offer primary care and diagnostic services, and doctors also make house visits. Doctors are intimately integrated into the communities where they work and prioritize fostering trust with their patients. Contrastingly, the American healthcare system is inefficient, impersonal, and neglects preventative care, leading to rampant mistrust of medical professionals.
End the blockade!
The only thing depriving Cubans of needed healthcare is the inhumane U.S. blockade. Because of the U.S.’s all-encompassing trade restrictions, Cuba cannot import medical supplies like syringes, pacemakers, and basic medications. Patents and export restrictions necessitate the development of their own pharmaceuticals. In addition to medicine, the blockade prevents Cubans from accessing basic needs like imported food, fuel, and building materials. The country is sent into frequent nationwide blackouts because they cannot repair the electricity grid. The U.S. has severely sanctioned Cuba since the socialist revolution, and Trump’s policies have been even more suffocating.
Ending the U.S. blockade on Cuba is a life-or-death matter, not just for Cubans, but for people who benefit from Cuban doctors worldwide. Working-class people in the U.S. must stand with the people of Cuba against imperialist aggression and the economic war at home.
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