Jamaica is renegotiating its long-running medical cooperation programme with Cuba amid renewed pressure from the United States.
Health and Wellness Minister Christopher Tufton confirmed that although the previous memorandum of understanding (MOU) governing the programme has expired, nearly 300 Cuban doctors and specialists remain in the country under existing contracts.
“It’s still in effect. We still have the Cuban workers here,” Tufton told The Gleaner. “There is a negotiation, though, that is taking place re the current agreement; the old one has expired and some conversations have been taking place, and that process is ongoing, lengthy and ongoing.”
No new MOU has been signed, and Tufton acknowledged that outstanding requests from Jamaica could jeopardise a final agreement. He declined to disclose the specific requirements being sought.
“But we are waiting,” said Tufton, “and so the programme continues – the Cuban Eye Care Programme, the Cubans in hospitals and health centres that are doing work.”
Jamaica’s medical cooperation with Cuba stretches back more than 50 years and has become a pillar of the public health system. In a March 20, 2025 statement, Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said the programme remains “vital”, noting that a review had begun before international scrutiny intensified.
That scrutiny has sharpened under the current US administration, which has accused Cuba’s overseas medical missions of constituting forced labour and human trafficking.
Washington has also imposed visa restrictions on officials in the region. In 2025, Grenadian Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall was among those targeted over what the US described as involvement in the Cuban medical mission scheme. Similar pressure has been reported in Antigua and Barbuda, and St Kitts and Nevis.
Caribbean leaders have pushed back strongly against the accusations.
Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, recently said the US had told his country to stop sending nationals to study medicine in Cuba — a claim Washington later said it had not “recently” discussed with Castries.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared last year she would rather lose her US visa than abandon the Cuban partnership, rejecting claims that the programme amounts to human trafficking.
Jamaica has also defended the programme, which has seen Cuba train hundreds of Caribbean doctors and dentists under government scholarships since the 1970s, many of whom now serve across the region.
The United States Embassy in Barbados last Friday said there are “alternative methods available” to Caribbean countries to recruit healthcare workers, as Washington continued its criticism of Cuba’s medical brigade programme across the region.
In a post on its Facebook page, the embassy said it “is committed to holding accountable Cuban regime officials, foreign government officials, and others for facilitating forced labour in Cuba’s medical missions.
“By participating in these programmes, despite known human rights abuses, foreign governments become complicit in the regime’s tactics. Their actions directly contribute to the abuses of Cuban workers,” the statement said.
“There are alternative methods available for Caribbean nations to recruit foreign medical workers and ethically meet the healthcare needs of their people. The United States calls on all governments and peoples to reject forced labour schemes and join us in demanding accountability and respect for human rights.”
The latest statement comes amid ongoing tension between Washington and several Caribbean governments over Cuba’s long-running medical cooperation programmes.
