Is US pressure causing Antigua to dump Cuban nurses?

Antigua and Barbuda’s efforts to shore up its overstretched health services have ignited political debate, with the government defending the recruitment of more than 100 nurses from Ghana amid claims that the move signals a quiet retreat from long standing medical cooperation with Cuba.

Officials confirmed that the first group of Ghanaian nurses is due to arrive this weekend and will be assigned mainly to major hospitals and health centres across the island. The initiative was coordinated by the administration of Prime Minister Gaston Browne, with Antiguan officials travelling to Ghana to conduct interviews and review credentials in collaboration with the Antigua and Barbuda Medical Council.

While authorities describe the recruitment as a practical response to staffing shortages, the timing has fuelled speculation within the federation. The programme coincides with heightened pressure from the United States on Caribbean Community governments to end or substantially revise arrangements under which Cuban doctors nurses and biomedical engineers have worked across the region for decades.

US officials have argued that Cuban medical professionals retain less than 15 per cent of their earnings, with the majority paid to the Cuban state. Washington has characterised the system as human trafficking and forced labour, an assessment rejected by several Caribbean governments. The Bahamas Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda acknowledged last year that they would explore changes to payment structures to address US concerns.

Government spokesman Maurice Merchant sought this week to dispel claims that the Cuban medical brigade was being replaced. He said the programme remains in place and continues to play an essential role in national health care delivery.

“There have been speculations and erroneous statements being made in the public by politicians and individuals who simply want to muddy the waters between the Republic of Cuba and the United States,” Merchant said. “The government values the contributions that have been made and are being made by the Cuban government with regards to our health sector and as with everything there is a period of transition.”

His comments suggested that future adjustments may occur but stopped short of confirming an end to Cuban participation.

The opposition United Progressive Party has demanded fuller disclosure, arguing that the public has been kept largely in the dark. Party chairperson Gisele Isaac said the arrival of foreign nurses deserved prior explanation, particularly given the financial implications.

“To say nothing to the very people whom these new medics will be treating and who will be paying their salaries is not only disrespectful but suspicious,” she said. Isaac complained that the matter was not raised in the throne speech budget presentation or budget debate nor by the ministers responsible for health or foreign affairs.

The controversy has unfolded alongside renewed statements from Washington. Through its mission in Barbados the US reiterated its stance in a social media post, stating that “renting out Cuban medical professionals at exorbitant prices and keeping the profit for regime elites is not a humanitarian gift. It is forced labor.”

The statement said the Cuban government takes between 80 and 95 per cent of doctors’ salaries and urged an end to what it described as a coercive labour export scheme.

As Antigua and Barbuda prepares to receive the Ghanaian nurses, the government faces continued scrutiny over how it balances urgent health care needs regional partnerships and mounting international pressure.

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