The admission or “parole” program for Cuban doctors to the United Stateswith emphasis on those who are “internationalist mission” remains on hold, but US senators are insisting on reinstating it. How is progress going?
This week, three U.S. senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting the reinstatement of the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program (CMPP).
The letter was signed by Florida Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, along with New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez.
In the letter, the senators urge the State Department to take action against “human trafficking” by the Cuban government, particularly in relation to health professionals. They also ask that the United States once again include the island on the list of countries that are not doing enough to combat human trafficking in its annual report on human trafficking.
Regarding the Mais Médicos program, the senators are calling for an investigation into the liability of the signatories of the agreement (the Pan American Health Organization, the Cuban government, and the former Brazilian government) to determine whether international human rights laws and U.S. laws on human trafficking have been violated.
Admission of Cuban doctors “on a mission” in the United States
Finally, they demand that the State Department provide a detailed assessment of how the United States plans to assist Cuban medical professionals working under coercive conditions (those in the missions), and of the risks faced by governments and institutions that support Cuban medical missions in other countries.
To this end, they are once again demanding the reinstatement of the “Parole” program or admission to the United States for Cuban doctors who wish to “desert” from these missions and enter the northern country legally.
This is not the first time that they have asked for this restitution. In 2020, Senators Marco Rubio (Republican) and Bob Menendez (Democrat) presented a bill to reactivate the so-called “parole program” that granted residency in the United States to Cuban doctors who defected during their missions abroad.
#reinstate #program #admitting #Cuban #doctors #United #States
