US sanctions target Cuba's international medical missions program

The United States announced new sanctions on Thursday targeting Cuba's international medical missions program, which sends doctors to dozens of countries and earns the island billions in revenue. The sanctions targeted government enterprises linked to the program and Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda. The State Department said the program amounted to forced labor and human trafficking. It said Cuban officials use coercive laws and economic conditions to compel workers to join and remain in labor export programs, while taking between 50 and 95 percent of wages paid by receiving countries. Official figures said around 24,000 Cuban doctors and other healthcare professionals were deployed in 56 countries in 2025. Most are sent to remote areas, and Havana presents the program as aid for less developed countries in the Global South. Half of those personnel were deployed to Venezuela, described in the source as Cuba's top ally for a quarter of a century before the violent January ouster of socialist president Nicolas Maduro by US forces. The program was projected to generate $7 billion in earnings for Cuba last year. An Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report cited official Cuban statistics saying doctors in the program receive between 2.5 percent and 25 percent of what countries pay Havana for their services. The Trump administration had already put pressure on the program earlier in the year. Cuba's foreign minister accused Washington of extorting several Latin American countries that canceled medical assistance deals with Havana. The sanctions are among recent actions by President Donald Trump's government against Cuba. Washington has also imposed a blockade on vital fuel and other supplies, and Trump has threatened to take over the island.