The Guatemalan government announced on Tuesday its plan to gradually discontinue its long-standing program utilizing Cuban medical professionals. This program, which has spanned nearly three decades, has been a crucial source of income for the Cuban government but has recently faced considerable pressure from the United States.
With a population exceeding 18 million, Guatemala becomes the latest nation in the Americas to terminate its participation in Cuba’s medical program.
According to a statement from Guatemala’s health ministry, the Cuban contingent comprises 412 medical staff, including 333 doctors, who are integrated into the country’s healthcare system. The ministry stated that the “gradual termination” will commence this year as these medical workers complete their assignments. This decision, they clarified, stems from a “technical analysis” aimed at enhancing Guatemala’s national health care infrastructure and ensuring continuous service delivery.
Under President Bernardo Arévalo, Guatemala has been aligning more closely with the United States. Recent collaborations include a reciprocal trade agreement, an increase in deportation flights accepted, and deeper engagement with U.S. law enforcement on prison and gang-related issues.
Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month, attention from the Trump administration has shifted significantly towards Cuba. Cuba had supplied many doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil, which was its primary energy supplier.
The Trump administration has been actively urging regional countries to cease their reliance on Cuban medical brigades. In a significant move last February, then-Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed visa restrictions. These restrictions targeted not only current and former Cuban officials involved in overseas medical missions but also foreign government officials and their immediate families linked to the program.
Rubio asserted, “Cuba’s labor export programs, which include the medical missions, enrich the Cuban regime, and in the case of Cuba’s overseas medical missions, deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their home country.”
Subsequently, several nations, including Paraguay, the Bahamas, and Guyana, have ended their Cuban medical collaborations. Guyana’s health minister indicated that Cuban medical professionals would now be hired directly and independently.
In August, Rubio extended visa restrictions to several Brazilian and Grenadian officials due to their involvement in the Cuban program.
This month, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre of Saint Lucia publicly stated that the United States was pressuring his government against sending doctors to Cuba for training and noted that other countries had already barred Cuban doctors, a service Saint Lucia itself utilized. He described the situation as “a major, major problem.”
While the U.S. Embassy in the Caribbean region denied direct talks with Saint Lucia concerning doctor training, it reiterated calls for an end to Cuba’s overseas medical program.
Last month, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala also voiced criticism of the Cuban program via a social media post, arguing that the “exploitation of medical workers by Cuba is not just a human rights issue,” but “it can also endanger patients.” The embassy mentioned reports alleging inadequate training among Cuban medical workers, though it did not specify these reports.
The Guatemalan foreign ministry confirmed in a letter dated January 6 that it had informed the Cuban Embassy in Guatemala about the impending phaseout. An official at the Cuban Embassy declined to comment on Tuesday afternoon.
For decades, Cuba has dispatched thousands of healthcare professionals to serve in remote areas and cities across numerous countries. These medical workers receive only a small portion of the fees their host countries pay to Cuba for their services.
The exact financial benefit to Cuba from this medical program remains unclear. However, various studies, including one by Cuba Archive, a Miami-based human rights organization, estimate that Cuba earns over $4 billion annually from exporting skilled workers, including healthcare providers, construction workers, and educators.
To address the departure of Cuban doctors, Guatemala’s health ministry plans to implement a “phased replacement plan.” This includes recruiting more local staff, offering improved incentives for positions in remote areas, and reallocating existing workers.
Guatemala initiated its Cuban medical brigade program in 1998, coinciding with then-President Álvaro Arzú’s restoration of relations with Cuba.
Fernando González Davison, a Guatemalan international relations expert, noted that Cuban doctors historically served in Indigenous and impoverished regions of Guatemala, areas often overlooked by the government or severely impacted by the nation’s prolonged civil war.
He further explained that widespread corruption within Guatemala’s social services and the reluctance of young local doctors to work in remote areas created significant gaps in the medical system, which Cuban doctors effectively filled.
González Davison expressed concern, stating that the U.S. government’s substantial cuts in foreign assistance to developing nations last year already dealt a “hard blow” to Guatemala. He added that this latest decision to remove Cuban doctors represents “an attack on the health of poor people.”