Doctors With Borders: Caribbean Countries Angry After US Threatens Cuba’s Physician-For-Hire Scheme
NEED TO KNOW
Doctors With Borders: Caribbean Countries Angry After US Threatens Cuba’s Physician-For-Hire Scheme
THE CARIBBEAN
For decades, Cuba has been exporting doctors to heal the sick and fill in gaps in healthcare around the world, often in rural and remote communities.
But now its version of “doctors without borders” is coming under threat from the United States – which is increasing pressure on Caribbean countries to eliminate the program because it sees it as “human trafficking.”
Caribbean leaders have reacted with outrage.
“I will be the first to tell you that we could not have gotten through the (Covid) pandemic without the Cuban nurses and the Cuban doctors,” the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, told parliament, visibly angry. “I will also be the first to tell you that we paid them the same (salary) that we pay Bajans, and that the notion, as was peddled not just by this government in the US, but also by the previous government, that we were involved in human trafficking by engaging with the Cuban nurses, was fully repudiated and rejected by us.”
Since its 1959 revolution, Cuba has exported health professionals to wealthy nations like Italy and poorer ones in Africa and the Caribbean.
Currently, Cuba has about 24,000 doctors working in 56 nations, including about 1,500 in the Caribbean, filling in where local communities don’t have enough medical professionals and helping to contain outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola.
Proponents of the program say that Cuban doctors receive excellent medical training, help communities, and stay in them for long periods, even years.
“Their presence here is of importance to our health care system,” said Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, adding that the island has more than 400 Cuban doctors, nurses, and other medical staff who have filled a gap left by emigrating Jamaican health workers.
Critics, including the Trump administration, say the program is promoting “forced labor”: They accuse Cuba of confiscating most of the revenue the doctors and nurses earn and holding their families back home hostage to ensure the doctors don’t defect. Some also contend that the medical care received by host communities is sometimes substandard.
Others accuse the doctors of being spies.
Now, the US is threatening to sanction countries that participate in the program with restrictions on visas for their leaders and repercussions on trade.
Cuba’s ambassador to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Carlos Ernesto Rodríguez Etcheverry, called the move “shameful,” as the loss of Cuban health workers would deprive millions of people around the world of care.
“We really reject the idea that Cuban doctors and nurses are slaves and that the Cuban government is involved in any trafficking issue with regard to our medical brigades,” he said. “That’s because we respect our doctors, our nurses.”
Since February, there has been a growing sense of urgency over the issue in the region. Caribbean leaders brought it up when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Jamaica, Guyana, and Suriname in late March. That followed a meeting in Washington between the 15-member Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom and the US Special Envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone.
The issue, analysts say, is deeply important to Caribbean countries, which say Cuba supplies some of their top doctors and that their healthcare systems are dependent on them. They also dispute US accusations.
In March, Trinidad and Tobago’s then-Prime Minister Keith Rowley, before being replaced by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said those medical professionals were paid the same as local doctors and nurses. “We’re now being accused of taking part in the program where people are being exploited,” he said. “Out of the blue now, we have been called human traffickers because we hire technical people who we pay top dollar.”
Writing in World Politics Review, James Bosworth, a fellow at the Wilson Center, says that both sides are partially correct. “It is true that well-trained Cuban doctors often provide a needed service for poor countries that otherwise struggle to afford quality medical personnel,” he wrote. “It is likewise true that Cuba abuses this program to the full extent possible, treating doctors poorly, making money off the poorly compensated doctors, and using the program for espionage while benefiting from the positive public relations image it generates.”
“Perhaps most important, however, is the fact that these doctors are literal lifesavers,” he added. “Criticizing the negative aspects of the program is easy to do for the US, but far harder for governments whose populations’ health hangs in the balance.”
Some Caribbean leaders, including the prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, said they would keep the program in place and gladly forgo their US visas.
“I just came back from California, and if I never go back there again in my life, I will ensure that the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is … respected by all,” Rowley said in March, according to the Daily Express, a local newspaper. “We rely heavily on health care specialists whom we have obtained from India, the Philippines, and mainly from Cuba over the decades.”
However, defying the US isn’t so simple for some countries.
In Guyana, about 240 Cuban doctors and nurses help fill the gap for medical personnel, especially in remote areas, Kadasi Ceres of the University of Guyana told The Economist. At the same time, the small state needs American security backing to protect its oil and gas reserves off the coast of Essequibo against Venezuelan claims to them.
Some Caribbean leaders are trying to remind the US that they preside over “sovereign countries,” which have a relationship with Cuba. “Their enemies are not our enemies,” said Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne. “We are friends of all, enemies of none.”
He added that the absence of Cuban doctors would “literally dismantle our healthcare services and put our people at risk.”
Others are trying to change the minds of US officials. Saint Vincent’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said he has provided proof to the US that Cuban health workers in the country are not victims of human trafficking. He added that it is not possible for the country to give up this program.
“If the Cubans are not there, we may not be able to run the service,” he said, referring to critical care patients including 60 who receive dialysis treatment. “I prefer to lose my visa than to have 60 poor and working people die.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Israel Unveils New Plan To Capture Gaza
ISRAEL/ WEST BANK AND GAZA
The Israeli government approved plans to capture the entire Gaza Strip and remain in the territory for an indefinite period, officials said Monday, a major expansion of its war aims that is expected to trigger fierce international opposition, the Associated Press reported.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his administration had decided on a “powerful operation in Gaza” Monday after Israel’s military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded assault on the Palestinian enclave.
Details of the plan have not been formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation have not been set. However, three officials with knowledge of the plan said it would include moving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza and preventing Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid.
Instead, aid would be managed by private security firms through centralized hubs at Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing. An internal memo circulated to aid organizations revealed plans to use facial recognition technology and centralized logistics hubs, where text alerts would notify civilians when to collect supplies.
The new strategy comes as Israel continues its expanded offensive against Iran-backed Hamas following the collapse of a ceasefire in mid-March.
Since then, Israeli forces have captured roughly 50 percent of the Palestinian enclave and halted nearly all humanitarian aid, creating what the United Nations and aid groups describe as the worst humanitarian crisis of the war.
The conflict erupted Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and its allies stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s subsequent airstrikes and ground invasion have displaced more than 90 percent of Gaza’s population and killed more than 52,000 combatants and civilians, according to Gazan health authorities.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities say that 59 hostages remain in Gaza, though about 35 are believed to be dead.
The plan to capture the rest of Gaza sparked broad criticism domestically and internationally.
The United Nations and aid groups rejected the proposal, warning that it violates humanitarian principles and risks forcibly displacing even more people. Hamas called Israel’s efforts to control aid “an extension of the starvation policy,” and accused it of using humanitarian supplies as political leverage, CBS News reported.
The European Union also expressed concern, saying expanded Israeli operations would cause “further casualties and suffering.”
Meanwhile, the families of the Israeli hostages have voiced their anger too, arguing that it jeopardizes efforts to secure the release of the captives. Some relatives are urging Israeli reservists to refuse duty “for moral and ethical reasons.”
Resolute, Netanyahu said Gaza’s population “will be moved for its own protection.”
Officials and observers suggested that the expanded offensive may also serve as a tactic to pressure Hamas into concessions in the stalled ceasefire negotiations. Currently, mediators are struggling to revive the talks, as Hamas continues to demand a full Israeli withdrawal and Israel insists it will continue fighting until Hamas is completely dismantled.
Israel occupied Gaza for decades before it withdrew in 2005 and imposed a complete blockade on the territory after Hamas took power in 2007.
Far-Right Candidate Dominates First Round of Romania’s Recall Election
ROMANIA
Far-right leader George Simion emerged as the clear frontrunner in the first round of Romania’s presidential election Sunday, in a closely watched rerun vote that may reshape the country’s political landscape, the Financial Times reported.
Results showed that Simion, leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, won a little more than 40 percent of the vote.
Centrist independent Mayor Nicușor Dan came in second with 20.9 percent, earning the chance to face Simion in a runoff.
Crin Antonescu – another centrist who was the joint candidate of the three parties in the governing coalition – was eliminated, though he garnered 20.4 percent of the ballots. He conceded, saying the result was “irreversible,” but did not endorse either remaining candidate.
Sunday’s rerun followed months of political turmoil after the constitutional court annulled the previous election result from November, which was won by ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, on the grounds that it was marred by Russian interference.
Georgescu, an ally of Simion, was subsequently barred from running again.
Simion has pledged to pursue a hardline nationalist agenda and hinted that, if elected, he could appoint Georgescu to a leadership role.
The future political direction of Romania, a NATO member and part of the European Union, hangs in the balance.
Political analysts suggested that under Simion, the country could move closer to Hungary and Slovakia, both EU states that have clashed with the bloc and have unclear ties with Russia.
Costin Ciobanu, a researcher at Denmark’s Aarhus University, told the FT that the results reflect a “second electoral shock for the ruling coalition” following Georgescu’s annulled win and said the two votes amount to “a repudiation of the mainstream alliance in Romania.”
Sunday’s vote was also disrupted by a series of cyberattacks on government and presidential candidates’ websites, noted Politico.
Russian hacker group DDOSIA/NoName057 claimed responsibility for the attack, which targeted the campaign websites of Dan and Antonescu. Authorities said the distributed denial-of-service attacks briefly disrupted access, but all sites were restored by the afternoon.
Turkish Cypriots Protest Ankara’s Embrace of Political Islam
CYPRUS
Thousands of Turkish Cypriots took to the streets of the capital Nicosia earlier this month to protest what they describe as Turkey’s growing efforts to impose political Islam and undermine the community’s secular traditions, Euronews reported.
On Friday, demonstrations took place in the northern part of the ethnically divided capital, the latest in a series of protests that have gripped the island nation in recent weeks.
The rallies – led by teachers’ unions and civil society groups – began last month after the right-wing Turkish Cypriot authorities lifted a ban on headscarves in high schools, but not on symbols of other religions.
The decision sparked a backlash from many Turkish Cypriots, who accused Ankara of seeking to “deepen political Islam domination” and vowed to challenge the measure in court.
Political observers described the dispute as “a cultural clash” and part of an ongoing effort by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to change the strongly secular society.
The demonstrations took place a day before Erdoğan’s visit to inaugurate a new government complex in northern Cyprus.
On Saturday, the Turkish leader warned protesters not to “sow seeds of hatred,” adding that “If you try to mess with our girls’ headscarves … you will find us against you,” according to the Guardian.
The Turkish president also reaffirmed support for a two-state solution to the island’s long-running division, calling it “the joint vision of Turkey and northern Cyprus.”
The island has remained divided since 1974 when Turkey launched a military intervention following a coup backed by the Greek junta aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
The Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island’s northern third is recognized only by Ankara, which keeps around 35,000 troops there.
Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, but only the Greek Cypriot-controlled south, home to the island’s internationally recognized government, enjoys the full benefits of EU membership.
DISCOVERIES
A Head for Shapes
Crows have long been hailed as some of the cleverest creatures to exist: For example, they can “count” and even build fortified nests.
Now, scientists discovered that the avian species has a knack for geometry.
In a new study, researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany found that crows can recognize geometric regularity in shapes – a cognitive ability previously thought to be unique to humans.
“Claiming that it is specific to us humans, that only humans can detect geometric regularity, is now (incorrect),” co-author Andreas Nieder told NPR, adding, “because we have the crow.”
Nieder’s team trained two carrion crows to spot the “odd one out” among six geometric shapes on a computer screen. The birds were first given easy tasks, such as picking out a flower among moons, and rewarded with mealworms when they got it right.
But then came the real test: Sets of subtly different four-sided shapes, some perfectly regular – such as squares – others more lopsided.
The findings showed that the birds were not randomly picking the outlier shapes. They easily detected the outlier shapes among the four-sided shapes with regular features.
The crows were the most challenged while attempting to spot differences between irregular shapes, such as rhombuses. The team explained that this difficulty is also present in humans.
“This highlights the similarities of the geometric capabilities between crows and humans,” Nieder told ScienceAlert.
Yet despite the challenge, the birds’ success rate showed they had an innate sense of angles, parallel lines, and symmetry.
The study raises big questions about the roots of geometric intuition in the animal kingdom. Previous research has suggested that even primates like baboons struggled with this task, making the crows’ abilities even more surprising.
As scientists begin to look beyond traditional models for mathematical ability, researchers believe that the animal kingdom may have more hidden talents than once thought.
“We humans – based on our unique formal and symbolic understanding – take geometry to a whole different level,” Nieder told ScienceAlert. “But the very foundation of it, from a visual point of view, seems to be rooted in evolution.”