Cuba Archive asks Washington to suspend its $48 million aid until Kingston ends its agreements with Havana.
14ymedio, Madrid, 30 July 2025 — Replicating the work carried out with the international missions of Cuban doctors in the Bahamas, Cuba Archive has prepared a new report on the contracts signed for the same purpose between the governments of Cuba and Jamaica. The report, which once again documents the same pattern seen in all countries that maintain agreements with Havana, urges the United States to downgrade the ’pressure measure’ in its next annual report on human trafficking from a level 2 to 3.
Cuba Archive believes the Jamaican government is complicit with Cuba in what it considers a case of modern slavery and human trafficking, since doctors—and teachers, also an important part of the study—receive, as usual, a tiny fraction of what the state receives from Kingston. According to several collaborators, some clauses in the agreements, which are—again—not transparent, indicate that Jamaica agrees not to hire, directly, any Cuban specialist who “deserts” the mission, and in addition will cancel their work permits.
A medical specialist who works 268 hours a month (excluding shifts) receives only $3.70 per hour.
Several testimonies and documents obtained by the organization once again highlight these practices, which include the confiscation of passports, and the monitoring of movements and relationships with other people. In addition, there are “Stalinist-style disciplinary measures imposed by the brigade coordinators.” According to the report, a medical specialist working 268 hours a month (excluding shifts) receives only $3.70 per hour.
Jamaica, according to Cuba Archive, is cooperating with what it considers a flagrant violation of human rights, and therefore its officials should also be subject to US sanctions. The organization also recommends that the US condition its economic aid to the country on the end of its agreements with the Cuban government.
According to the document, Washington gave Kingston $65 million in 2022 and $48 million in 2024 “for security, development, health, education, communications, disaster response, and other purposes.” “Because money is fungible, the United States has, in effect, been paying for the Cuban brigades in Jamaica,” the document concludes.
The report is a lengthy document, nearly 50 pages long, that reviews the history of political relations between the two countries and the trajectory of the international missions organized by Cuba since the 1960s. It also delves into recent years, particularly since the pandemic, and details the alleged results achieved through this collaboration.
As of May 2019, Cuban healthcare professionals had treated 1,447,015 patients, performed 30,761 surgeries, and administered 73,331 vaccine doses. Health Minister Christopher Tufton said he was “very pleased with this collaboration,” referring specifically to the ophthalmology program, for which there is striking data. In October 2024, it was reported that, since September 2023, 22 professionals—17 of them Cuban—had performed 3,476 surgeries within the framework of this agreement. The estimate, emphasized by Archivo Cuba, is 13.8 interventions per day over the 251 working days of the year.
The investigation highlights the propagandistic nature of international missions, used for “political proselytism.”
The report emphasizes that, meanwhile, medical and educational efforts on the island are suffering a terrible setback due to a lack of doctors and funding, which refutes, they point out, the regime’s claims that the money earned from international missions is used to finance the “achievements of the Revolution.”
The investigation highlights the propaganda nature of international missions, used to engage in “political proselytism” and disseminate content favorable to the Cuban regime.
Last April, Cuba Archive published a similar report applicable to the agreements between Cuba and the Bahamas . A few weeks later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that all officials involved in such contracts could be sanctioned by Washington, and during a tour of the Caribbean in early May, he warned several prime ministers in the region that this was one of his administration’s concerns.
Although the Bahamas maintained for several days that there was no slavery relationship in its agreements for hiring Cuban doctors and even noted that the US had used similar systems in the past, at the end of the month it finally stated that it was breaking its agreements and would proceed to hire the professionals individually and directly. However, Cuba Archive has also condemned this type of solution, believing that the Cuban state can pressure its doctors to engage in these types of agreements and transfer the salary difference to Havana.
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