The deployment of Cuban doctors in Argentina has provoked a partisan feud, but there are foreign policy implications as well, as the Trump administration loathes the program. https://www.infobae.com/politica/2020/04/17/la-oposicion-rechazo-la-llegada-de-los-medicos-cubanos-y-exigio-el-regreso-de-los-argentinos-varados-en-el-exterior/ … 1/
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The administration says the program abuses its estimated 50,000 participants to generate revenue for the cash-strapped regime in Havana, accusing Cuba of employing "human trafficking" tactics, such as withholding doctors' visas. https://www.state.gov/a-call-to-action-first-hand-accounts-of-abuses-in-cubas-overseas-medical-missions/ … 2/
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In September,
@StateDept imposed visa sanctions on Cuban officials who oversee the medical missions. https://www.state.gov/visa-actions-against-cuban-officials-exploiting-cuban-doctors/#.XpsFSUM9zWE.twitter … 3/1 reply 0 retweets 0 likesShow this thread -
Last year, Brazil's president, President Trump's closest regional ally, described overseas Cuban doctors as "slave labor," leading Cuba to recall 8,300 medical workers, a stinging loss of hard currency earnings. 4/
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Brazil, however, is an outlier; Cuba's program operates in around 60 countries, and most are apparently ignoring the White House demand that they shutter the medical missions. 5/
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But the stakes are high for Argentina, which needs U.S. support to renegotiate Buenos Aires's $44 billion
@IMFNews debt. And as I wrote in@ForeignPolicy, Alberto Fernández and President Trump are already at loggerheads over Evo's downfall in Bolivia. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/08/argentina-regional-diplomacy-imf-debt-relief/ … 6/1 reply 0 retweets 0 likesShow this thread -
Notably, opposition in the U.S. to the Cuban medical missions is bipartisan, at least among influential hardliners in both parties. In a recent statement, a Democrat and two Republicans from Florida said Havana had "shamelessly exploited" the pandemic.https://mariodiazbalart.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/representatives-diaz-balart-rooney-mucarsel-powell-condemn-cuba-s …
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Argentina’s reliance on Cuban doctors is “one of the most scandalous human rights, economic and public-health decisions in Latin America’s efforts to contain the disease,” @oppenheimera writes.https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article242213431.html …
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