- Under pressure from the United States, the leftist government of the Central American country decided not to renew the contract in place since 1998.
- An investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that only three out of every ten “collaborators” sent by Havana were doctors.
14ymedio, Madrid, April 3, 2026 – Guatemala is already sending back the Cuban doctors who were part of the bilateral agreement that ended two months ago. This Thursday, a first group arrived on the Island, following a farewell ceremony held in the Central American country, according to official press reports, which indicate that the return of the “health collaborators,” after the end of the agreement between both governments, will be “gradual.”
Without giving names or figures, Guerrillero reports the words of the coordinator of the cooperation program of the Directorate of Integrated Networks of the Guatemalan Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, Sheila Pamela Leyla, who stated that “the members of the Antillean medical brigade made the mountains, the jungles, and the poorest neighborhoods of this land their own home.”
The official added: “You arrived not with weapons or conditions, but with stethoscopes and an iron will. Since then, you have been the face of hope for millions of Guatemalans who, before seeing a Cuban doctor, had never had access to proper medical care.”
For his part, the Cuban ambassador to Guatemala, Nazario Fernández, praised “the services provided” and urged people “not to pay attention to perverse minds, to empty hearts that try to denigrate that work, since the humanism demonstrated every day over nearly 28 years remains alive in the people of this sister nation.”
Guatemala stated that its Ministry of Health will fill the positions left by the 412 Cuban specialists, who cost 4,513,872 dollars annually.
Last February, the Government of Guatemala, led by leftist President Bernardo Arévalo, announced it would not renew the contracts of the Cuban medical brigades, present in the country since 1998 after Hurricane Mitch. In doing so, it followed the path of other countries in the region such as Honduras, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, under pressure from the Trump administration, which considers the Cuban missions forced labor and seeks to reduce the Cuban regime’s main source of foreign currency.
Guatemalan authorities said at the time that their Ministry of Health would cover the positions left by the 412 Cuban specialists, who cost 4,513,872 dollars annually, with medical students doing their residencies. They also said they were working on measures for the “reorganization of current human resources to avoid neglecting the population,” including “incentives for those who take positions in hard-to-reach areas.”
According to Guatemala’s Minister of Health, Joaquín Barnoya, 80% of the brigades from the Island were located in communities across eight departments: Petén, Huehuetenango, Alta and Baja Verapaz, Quiché, Izabal, Zacapa, and San Marcos, while another 40 physicians were in the capital.
The investigation conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office examines the proportion of healthcare specialists sent by the Cuban government and indicates that only three out of every ten Cubans sent were doctors.
Last week, Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it is investigating more than 60 complaints against Cuban doctors, related to impersonation of professional qualifications, failure to meet legal requirements, and public safety concerns. “There are complaints filed against Cuban doctors in Guatemala, under various circumstances, ranging from crimes committed individually to issues related to the performance of their duties in Guatemala,” said the MP’s Secretary General, Ángel Arnoldo Pineda.
According to Pineda, the prosecutor’s investigation analyzes the proportion of healthcare specialists sent by the Cuban government and indicates that only three out of every ten Cubans sent were actually doctors. “If one conducts a numerical analysis of 100% of the people assigned by the Cuban regime to provide medical support in different countries, it is said that only 20% or 30% of those who come are truly doctors, and the rest assume the role of doctors and perform other functions,” the secretary stated.
In 2019, UN special rapporteurs had already sent an urgent letter to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, denouncing abuses such as opaque contracts, salary withholding of up to 75%, and reprisals against those who refused to participate. Havana never responded.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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