In a statement, the Honduras-Cuba Friendship Association referred to the announcement made last Tuesday by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who threatened to revoke visas for Central American government officials who collaborate with Cuban medical missions.

According to Rubio, these officials are involved in the hiring of Cuban brigades, which, according to the Donald Trump administration, constitute a “form of forced labor.”

“We condemn the threatening and arrogant attitude of the Secretary of State, aimed at sanctioning public employees who support medical collaboration agreements with Cuba,” the solidarity organization stated in its message, which emphasized that Cuban medical brigades, in the particular case of Honduras, deployed to areas with difficult access to health services and provided highly humane assistance, without harming their local colleagues.

The statement emphasized that Cuban doctors have earned the affection of the Honduran people for their high level of training and the excellent treatment provided to thousands of compatriots, who had never had the opportunity to be evaluated by a doctor.

Cuban medical brigades performed more than 25 million consultations, hundreds of high-risk surgeries, and saved thousands of Honduran lives free of charge, the Friendship Association emphasized.

For the Cuba solidarity movement, Rubio’s immoral attitude seeks to harass Cuban health cooperation around the world, with the goal of depriving thousands of people in need of public health services. With his position, Washington also seeks to intensify the unjust and criminal economic, financial, and commercial blockade imposed on Cuba by successive U.S. administrations, he concluded.

jrr/llp/mem/edu