Grenada Stands by Cuban Doctors

Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell on Monday expressed support for Cuba’s medical missions, saying the doctors “have a friend and home” in Grenada, Caribbean Life reported.

Mitchell’s words follow an unprecedented pressure campaign from the United States to force countries out of medical agreements with Cuba. So far, around ten countries have caved to the pressure.

Despite Mitchell’s support, Grenada was also forced to find a middle ground.

In October, Grenada announced “important changes” to Cuba’s medical mission there, including direct payments to the doctors, replacing the previous agreement by which payment was channeled through the Cuban government.

Grenadian officials and their families had their U.S. visas removed last year for their “complicity” in what the U.S. has called “forced labor" despite the fact that Cuban doctors and nurses volunteer to go on medical missions and are paid salaries many times higher than what they earn at home.

Grenada’s Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall, who studied in Cuba in the 1980s, was confirmed as one of the officials. The identities of the others have not been disclosed.