{"id":5679,"date":"2026-03-26T03:35:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T03:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/mexico-will-continue-accepting-cuban-medical-workers-despite-us-pressure\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T03:35:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T03:35:55","slug":"mexico-will-continue-accepting-cuban-medical-workers-despite-us-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/mexico-will-continue-accepting-cuban-medical-workers-despite-us-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico will continue accepting Cuban medical workers despite US pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praises services from Cuban doctors, who often work in underserved rural areas.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Mexican President <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/6\/mexico-promises-food-support-for-cuba-as-us-stifles-the-islands-fuel-supply\">Claudia Sheinbaum<\/a> has confirmed that her country will continue receiving Cuban medical workers, as part of a longstanding programme meant to build goodwill between the island and other Latin American countries.<\/p>\n<p>Her remarks on Wednesday come as the United States pressures Latin American countries to sever their ties to Cuba\u2019s medical programme.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/18\/why-is-the-us-targeting-cubas-global-medical-missions\">Why is the US targeting Cuba\u2019s global medical missions?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/24\/aid-flotilla-vessel-arrives-in-cuba-amid-us-driven-energy-crisis\">Aid flotilla vessel arrives in Cuba amid US-driven energy crisis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/22\/us-sanctions-must-be-stopped-as-they-reshape-life-in-cuba-un-rapporteur\">US sanctions must be stopped as they reshape life in Cuba: UN rapporteur<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Sheinbaum, however, told reporters during a news conference that the agreement was a benefit to Mexico. Thousands of Cuban <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/3\/15\/why-are-caribbean-leaders-fighting-trump-to-keep-cuban-doctors\">medical workers<\/a> have deployed there since 2022 to work largely in poor, rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a very good agreement that\u2019s also been a great help to us. It\u2019s a bilateral agreement that\u2019s been very beneficial for Mexico,\u201d said Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get Mexican doctors and specialists to go out to many rural areas where we need medical specialists, and the Cubans are willing to work there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In February, the US passed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-bill\/7148\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a law<\/a> that opens the door to sanctions on countries that continue to participate in the programme.<\/p>\n<p>It called for the US secretary of state to issue a report within 90 days about which countries continue to pay the government of Cuba for the \u201ccoerced and trafficked labour of Cuban medical professionals\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The move comes amid a wider push to further <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/22\/emerging-from-latest-blackout-cuba-says-ready-for-any-potential-us-attack\">isolate Cuba<\/a> and topple the government in Havana, a longtime target of US ire. So far, countries including the Bahamas, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica and Guyana have ended their participation in the Cuban medical exchange programme.<\/p>\n<p>Cuba has long depicted the decades-old programme as a means of signalling solidarity with other countries. It has also become an important source of foreign revenue for the island nation, which has been under a restrictive US economic embargo since 1960.<\/p>\n<p>The administration of US President Donald Trump, however, has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/18\/why-is-the-us-targeting-cubas-global-medical-missions\">depicted the programme<\/a> as akin to forced labour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasically, it\u2019s human trafficking,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/StateDept\/status\/2026842192124456980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told reporters<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, they\u2019re barely even being paid. Their freedom of movement is tightly restricted. And we want these countries to understand that\u2019s what they\u2019re participating in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Experts at the United Nations have also raised similar concerns, including about the confiscation of passports, which the Cuban government justifies as a means of preventing trained doctors from fleeing the country after their state-sponsored studies.<\/p>\n<p>The pressure on the Cuban medical missions is part of a broader push under Trump\u2019s second term to seek regime change on the island.<\/p>\n<p>By threatening tariffs on Cuba\u2019s trading partners, Trump has largely cut the island off from accessing the foreign oil necessary to power its electrical grid.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has also said that he hopes to \u201ctake\u201d Cuba and install a new government that will be more pliant to US demands.<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican government has tried to balance its friendly relations with Cuba with the US\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of energy shipments, Sheinbaum\u2019s government has sent vessels with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/12\/mexican-ships-arrive-in-cuba-with-humanitarian-cargo-amid-us-oil-blockade\">humanitarian aid<\/a> to the island.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praises services from Cuban doctors, who often work in underserved rural areas. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has confirmed that her country will continue receiving Cuban medical workers, as part of a longstanding programme meant to build goodwill between the island and other Latin American countries. Her remarks on Wednesday come as &#8230; <a title=\"Mexico will continue accepting Cuban medical workers despite US pressure\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/mexico-will-continue-accepting-cuban-medical-workers-despite-us-pressure\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Mexico will continue accepting Cuban medical workers despite US pressure\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}