US Imposes Visa Restrictions on Officials, Alleging Ties to Cuba’s Labor Export Scheme

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Brazil’s Mais Médicos program was an unconscionable diplomatic scam of foreign medical missions.
US Imposes Visa Restrictions on Officials, Alleging Ties to Cuba’s Labor Export Scheme
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office at the White House on July 14, 2025. Nathan Howard/Reuters
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Aug. 13 revoked or restricted visas for some Brazilian, Caribbean, and African officials over their alleged involvement with a Cuban program that sends doctors abroad.

Rubio said in a statement that his department revoked the visas for several Brazilian government officials, as well as former Pan American Health Organization officials and their family members, for their alleged involvement with the Cuban program as part of Brazil’s Mais Médicos or “More Doctors” initiative. The initiative began in 2013, and Cuba’s involvement with it was terminated in 2018.
Victoria Friedman
Victoria Friedman
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Victoria Friedman is a UK-based reporter covering a wide range of national stories.