Cuba Heals the World: White Coats from Cuba

The U.S. wants to curb international medical brigades. Some countries cave in to these demands, but others resist.

Cuban internationalist medical personnel -- image via the Communist party of Cuba

By Volker Hermsdorf, junge Welt, Berlin, 27 March 2026. Translated by Helmut-Harry Loewen.

U.S. President Donald Trump not only has his military bomb civilians, schools, and hospitals, but he also endangers the health and lives of countless patients in regions that depend on the help of Cuban doctors. But while several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean bowed to pressure from the U.S. government and terminated medical cooperation with Cuba, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Wednesday that her country would continue the collaboration. The southern Italian region of Calabria, Barbados, and other countries are also defying Washington’s attempts at blackmail and declared: “The white coats from Cuba are staying.”

The Mexican government pointed above all to the urgent need for medical care in rural and structurally weak regions. Sheinbaum emphasized that the agreement with Cuba is “of great importance” to her country. Only in this way, she said, could gaps in the national healthcare system be filled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, more than 3,000 Cuban medical professionals are working in 570 locations across Mexico, providing care in remote rural regions. According to official figures, they have saved the lives of over 700,000 patients. Cuban medical staff has so far performed 7.5 million examinations, 114,000 surgeries, and 280,000 dialysis treatments.

Mexico has positioned itself as a strong counterweight in a region where Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Ecuador, and other countries have terminated their agreements with Havana. Nevertheless, Sheinbaum is not alone in her stance. In the Caribbean, several governments, including that of Barbados, have defended their cooperation with Havana as an indispensable part of their public health systems. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley issued a strong response to similar threats from the U.S.: “If the price is the loss of my U.S.

visa, so be it!” In the Italian region of Calabria, the right-wing government stated that without medical personnel from Cuba, hospitals and emergency rooms would be unable to function. Instead of terminating their contracts, the cooperation is to be expanded. Even the government of Giorgia Meloni emphasized that “without Cuban doctors, Calabria’s healthcare system would collapse.”

Cuba’s medical missions are considered a unique model of South-South cooperation. Since the first deployment to Algeria in 1963, more than 600,000 medical professionals have worked in 165 nations. The Henry Reeve Contingent provides disaster relief. Operación Milagro has restored sight to hundreds of thousands of people in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Jamaica, for example, 25,000 patients benefited from this free treatment. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba sent more medical personnel to low-income countries than all G7 nations combined.

It is precisely this significance that makes the program a target of U.S. policy. An internal memorandum from the U.S. State Department in February outlined a comprehensive strategy to end Cuban medical missions in the Western Hemisphere within a few years. Countries that terminate their agreements with Cuba are promised support in building infrastructure and recruiting personnel from other countries. At the same time, halting the missions is intended to cut off an important source of revenue for Cuba and reduce the socialist island’s political influence.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel criticizes the “brutal blackmail” directed at countries that depend on medical aid. In his view, the campaign primarily affects the poorest segments of the population, who have benefited from this cooperation for decades. At the same time, the loss of revenue would weaken Cuba’s own healthcare system. Cuba’s international solidarity remains unbroken. The Cuban government reaffirmed that it would continue to offer medical support to any country willing to cooperate.

Original article: Volker Hermsdorf, “Kuba heilt die Welt. Weiße Kittel aus Kuba - USA wollen internationale Gesundheitsbrigaden eindämmen: Manche Staaten knicken ein, andere beugen sich nicht.” junge Welt, Berlin, 27.03.2026, S. 8.