Miami
The United States Added Uruguay to a Report on Cuban Doctors and Warned of Possible Restrictions
The State Department included Uruguay for the first time in a report sent to Congress on the so-called Cuban medical missions. According to Búsqueda, appearing again for two consecutive years could block U.S. international assistance.
Uruguay was added by the United States to an annual report on the so-called Cuban medical missions, in which the State Department maintains that there are patterns of forced labor within the Cuban government’s labor export program, according to Búsqueda.
According to that report, sent at the end of August to the U.S. Congress and cited by Búsqueda, Uruguay is among 15 countries whose governments pay the Cuban government directly for the services of those professionals. The document says that so far in 2026 there were 21 Cuban workers in Uruguay under that scheme.
The U.S. Embassy explained to Búsqueda that section 7045 of the budget law approved by Congress in February 2026 requires the State Department to submit an annual report on human trafficking linked to Cuban medical missions or on cases in which the recipient country pays the government of Cuba directly.
According to that same explanation, the rule also prevents the secretary of state from granting international assistance to any country or international organization mentioned in the report for two consecutive years. The diplomatic mission added, according to Búsqueda, that Uruguay appeared for the first time in the 2026 report because the payments go directly to the Cuban embassy and there is no evidence that the doctors receive compensation for their work in Uruguay.
Regarding the official communication, Búsqueda reported that sources in the Executive Branch said the United States notified Uruguay of its inclusion on Friday the 4th through a note addressed to the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. A source at the Foreign Ministry told that outlet that it was a non-paper, a diplomatic communication of an unofficial nature.
Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin, consulted after the issue was reported in the press, said the government had received “no official communication from the United States on this specific issue,” although he maintained that it is one of the matters under discussion between the two countries. In statements collected by la diaria, he also defended the work of Cuban eye doctors in Uruguay and said their experience has been “extraordinary.”
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
