PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has joined other Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders in defending the Cuban health brigade after the United States (US) announced the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets “forced labour” linked to the Cuban labour export programme.

Caricom countries have called for a meeting with Washington to discuss the issue after US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said this expanded policy applies to current or former Cuban government officials, and other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or involved in, the Cuban labour export programme, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba in pursuit of the American dream, said in the statement posted on the US Department of State’s website that the new policy also applies to the immediate family of those people supporting the Cuban programme.

“The department has already taken steps to impose visa restrictions on several individuals, including Venezuelans, under this expanded policy,” he added.

But like his counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Rowley vowed to protect Trinidad and Tobago’s sovereignty.

“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 known to its people and respected by all,” he said.

Speaking at the official commemoration ceremony marking the completion of the construction of the Port of Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) Central Block on Monday, Rowley said Port of Spain hires healthcare specialists from other countries to work in the nation’s hospitals.

“Remember what happened during COVID when vaccines were required, and we couldn’t buy one even though we had the money? And even where we paid the money, those we paid put us at the back of the line?

“Right now, they are telling us something else. We rely a lot for our healthcare delivery on certain specialists who, over the decades, we have obtained from India, from the Philippines, sometimes from Africa, and mainly from Cuba.

“Out of the blue, we are now being called human traffickers because we hire technical people whom we pay top dollar, equal to local rates, but we are now being accused of taking part in a programme where people are being exploited.”

Rowley told the ceremony that is “somebody’s interpretation, and, of course, there are local people here encouraging them to take away our US visas”.

Earlier this month, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves defended the Cuban health brigade programme, saying “maybe some people in Florida who’re pushing a line don’t quite understand what is taking place, and when they get the information, they’ll see that they’re mistaken”.

His Antiguan counterpart, Gaston Browne said the United States should treat the Caribbean with ‘some degree of respect” rather that threatening the region over the survival of its healthcare systems.

“If they were to take punitive action because of the presence of Cuban medical personnel in our healthcare systems, it would practically dismantle these systems across the region,” Browne said as he dismissed any notion that Antigua and Barbuda is involved in human trafficking through the use of Cuban doctors and nurses in health systems across the Caribbean and Latin America.