The Deputy Director General of the United States Directorate of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Johana Tablada, in an interview with Cubainformación, affirmed that Washington’s crusade against Cuban medical cooperation is to isolate the island.
Johana Tablada emphasized that the objective of this attack on Cuban medical cooperation is to isolate Cuba internationally and erode its hard-earned prestige in this area, as well as to cut off a source of income that “sustains medical services within Cuba.”
The Cuban Foreign Ministry official commented on the latest measures against Cuba announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which would sanction officials from third countries who sign medical agreements with Cuba, saying that it is a “delusional whim.”
It is a delusional whim by Rubio, a project that will fail because no one believes it, not even himself, Tablada added.
Elaborating on the accusation of alleged human trafficking, she indicated that the doctors are not deceived, as they sign a contract and know its terms; “they are neither forced nor coerced; nor do they work without a salary.”
The MINREX official said, on the contrary, they receive “double compensation: their full Cuban salary and payment in hard currency in the country where they are located.” Furthermore, she denied that the cooperation teams “are confined” or “do not move freely.”
Referring generally to the U.S. blockade against Cuba for more than six decades, she asserted that “this war policy has failed in its political objective, but it has succeeded in causing pain to Cuban families.”
Johana Tablada considered that the U.S. economic warfare measures served to torture the Cuban population, “in a kind of laboratory experiment to suffocate and cut off all their sources of income.”
When asked why Trump isn’t taking steps toward lifting the blockade, she explained that “the issue of Cuba has been outsourced to sectors in South Florida, which have made a lucrative business out of the policy of aggression against the Cuban Revolution and the economic siege of our country.”
The hypothetical end of the siege of the island, he admitted, would be beneficial for both countries, in areas such as investment, culture, or access to Cuban medications such as Heberprot-P, which prevents diabetic foot amputation, a disease that affects thousands of people in the United States.
Johana Tablada mentioned that an October 2024 poll showed that at least 59% of the U.S. population supports the normalization of Cuba-U.S. relations.
