Late last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement announcing the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy “that targets forced labor linked to the Cuban labor export program.”

   The new measures specifically target Cuba’s overseas medical missions. The Secretary of State is threatening to impose visa restrictions on nations benefiting from what he calls Cuba’s forced, abusive, and coercive labor export programs.

   Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Grenada confirmed that the formal notification from the U.S. State Department arrived, and it is believed that other governments in the region have since received the official correspondence.

   Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is expected to craft an official response this week, but there appears to be some defiance from the administration. Grenada’s posture is that the country is sovereign and will conduct its relations with other states without bowing to such pressure.

   Speaking with CaribUpdate he said, “We are clear that we have a legitimate partnership with the people and government of Cuba, who have, over several decades, provided support to Grenada in the medical field. We will continue to support and defend this partnership,” the Prime Minister said.

   Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed the US threats of sanctions, stating that his country is prepared to continue its long-standing arrangement with Havana.

   “They got a free education,” he said, referring to Cuban professionals. “If they are going overseas to make money from that education, then it’s only reasonable for them to put back something.”

   Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that the issue needs to be clarified with the US government and believes that “common sense” will prevail.

   “I do not believe that any current health system in the Caribbean can survive without the support of the medical personnel from Cuba,” he said, expressing optimism that once the U.S. administration is engaged, the issue can be resolved.

   Over the last six decades several Caribbean nations including Jamaica, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada as well as countries in Latin America have benefitted from Cuba’s overseas medical mission without US interference.

   According to Rubio’s statement the US had already imposed restrictions on several people, including some Venezuelans.