By Prensa Latina on August 14, 2025 in Washington DC
Cuban medical brigades arriving in Mexico
While a small group of detractors in high positions in the US government increase their attacks on Cuba’s medical internationalism, others in the US Cuba solidarity movement are dismissing the tired old charges by putting a spotlight on the contribution these brigades continue to make on the needs of humanity.
Cheryl LaBash, co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) in the US, told Prensa Latina that as attacks and slander against medical missions continue, we must remember that 20 years ago, it was the Caribbean nation that was the first to reach out in solidarity to the American people after the devastating Hurricane Mitch hit New Orleans.
It was the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, whose 99th birthday we are commemorating, who called for volunteers to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and the US Gulf Coast in August 2005, she added.
Cheryl LaBash
“More than 1,500 fully equipped medical professionals waited in Havana for the United States to allow them to go and help,” LaBash said, noting that no response was ever sent from the Bush Administration but “one thing was clear: it was a selfless, voluntary gesture that speaks volumes about Cuba’s spirit of humanism and solidarity.”
Labash commented that “although Cuban medical internationalism began in the early years of the Revolution, it was in 2005 that Fidel named it the Henry Reeve Brigade, in honor of the former US Civil War soldier who fought in Cuba against Spanish colonial rule.”
“It is a world view not based on profit and greed but humanitarianism that pushes Cuba forward, despite all the economic difficulties of the US blockade, to continue to give, contribute and save lives of people around the world.”
According to Samira Addrey, a member of the board of directors of the US organization IFCO-Pastors for Peace, “Cuba’s collaboration in health is a feat and a bastion of hope for many people around the world,” she said in a recent interview with this news agency.
Samira Addley, IFCO co ordinator
According to Addrey, a graduate of the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in Havana, “the world must recognize Cuba not only for its medical achievements, but also for the humanity of its people.”
On Wednesday, the State Department announced visa restrictions for officials from African countries, Brazil, and Grenada linked to Cuban international cooperation programs in the field of health.
The measure is directed against them for hiring Cuban medical missions, which the US administration, without any basis, describes as forced labor in its campaign to discredit a program with which Cuba has helped save millions of lives in different parts of the world for decades.
The announcement, made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, includes former members of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) whom he accuses of “complicity in the medical mission plan.”
In the case of Brazil, the State Department said it will revoke and restrict visas for government officials from that South American nation linked to the Mais Medicos (More Doctors) health program carried out in cooperation with Cuba.
This is in addition to sanctions issued by the Donald Trump administration in February and June against officials from Central American countries linked to medical missions from the largest Caribbean island.
The Cuban government has assured that it will not halt its medical missions. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez stated defiantly on his social media account that his country “will continue to provide services.”
Rodríguez warned that the measure demonstrates that “imposition” and ‘aggression’ are the “new doctrine of foreign policy” of the United States under the Republican administration of President Trump.
On May 23, 1963, the first Cuban medical brigade arrived in Algeria to provide its services. Since then, Cuban health professionals have been reported in 165 countries, with more than 600,000 collaborators, according to official data.
There are currently 54 brigades with more than 22,600 collaborators, responding to the needs expressed by each of the governments that request services through these legitimate programs of cooperation.
Source: Prensa Latina