By Manu Pineda on March 29, 2025
The statements made by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, against Cuban medical missions are nothing more than an echo of ideological resentment, incapable of recognizing the magnitude of a humanitarian project that has saved millions of lives.
The history of humanity is marked by an irreconcilable contrast: the struggle between those who build bridges of solidarity and those who erect walls of selfishness. In this context, the statements made by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, against the Cuban medical missions are nothing more than an echo of ideological resentment, incapable of recognizing the magnitude of a humanitarian project that has saved millions of lives. His criticism, tinged with envy and hatred, reveals a moral myopia that confuses altruism with propaganda, and ignores the value of a revolutionary ethic based on service to others.
Cuban internationalism: Medicine against indifference
Since 1963, when Cuba sent its first medical brigade to Algeria, the island has deployed an army of white coats to more than 150 countries. These professionals do not travel with rifles, but with stethoscopes; they do not impose economic conditions, but offer care in the most remote and vulnerable areas. During the Covid-19 pandemic, while powerful nations hoarded vaccines and resources, more than 3,700 Cuban doctors arrived in 40 countries, from Italy to South Africa, demonstrating that solidarity is not an abstraction, but a concrete act. How can this commitment be explained? The answer lies in the founding principles of the Cuban Revolution: a socialism that understands health not as a privilege, but as a universal right.
Ideological blindness: Blockades vs. brigades
While Cuba exports health, the United States — under policies backed by figures like Rubio — exports military interventions, economic sanctions and support for oppressive regimes. The blockade against the island, in force for six decades, is an act of cruelty that seeks to suffocate not a government, but a people. Paradoxically, however, this same hostility has sharpened Cuban ingenuity: despite material shortages, the island has developed its own vaccines against Covid-19 and maintains one of the most efficient health systems in the world, even under extreme pressure. Rubio’s obsession with demonizing Cuba fails to hide an uncomfortable truth: his model fails to generate empathy, while Cuban medical internationalism gains global recognition.
Humanism as a revolutionary legacy
Rubio’s criticism is not only against Cuba, but against the very idea that a poor country can exercise moral leadership. For him, it is incomprehensible that Cuban doctors treat patients in Haiti, Pakistan or Brazil without demanding payment in exchange. But that mercantilist logic — where even human life has a price — clashes with the philosophy of the Revolution, which prioritizes collective dignity over individual benefit. Cuban professionals are not heroes by chance: they are the product of a system that trains doctors with a social conscience, not with ambitions for profit. Their “payment” is the gratitude of those who regain their sight thanks to Operation Miracle, or of mothers who see their children survive after Ebola or cholera epidemics.
The arrogance of power vs. the force of ethics
Marco Rubio is a character who has made hatred of Cuba his modus vivendi. He represents a political elite that measures the value of nations by their military might or their wealth, never by their capacity to serve. His hatred and envy towards Cuba stems from an inability to understand that true greatness is not measured in dollars, but in lives saved. While the United States spends billions on invisible bombers, Cuba builds hospitals in Guinea-Bissau. While Washington imposes sanctions that starve people to death, Havana trains doctors from Honduras or Angola. The paradox is clear: a small country, besieged and slandered, shows the world that another model is possible. And although it may burn Rubio, that lesson in humanism — born of socialism — will endure as a challenge to the arrogance of empire.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English