Secretary of State Marco Rubio is resorting to his well-known thug tactics against UN member states, threatening them not to support Cuba in the Oct. 28 General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for the end of the six-decade-long U.S. blockade against the Caribbean island. This vote takes place annually, prior to which the Foreign Minister reports on the effects of the blockade on the country and population. This year, the Trump administration has intensified the blockade with a total ban on any oil sales to Cuba, beginning Jan. 29, while Rubio has imposed almost monthly sanctions to cut off any productive activity capable of producing foreign exchange. These vicious policies have devastated the island’s economy and provoked a desperate humanitarian crisis, especially affecting hospitals’ ability to function, and causing a dramatic downgrading of Cuba’s once-excellent healthcare system.

Rubio’s threats, including visa revocation or sanctions, are delivered to UN diplomats in New York or to their governments by U.S. embassies in those countries. The State Department is also stepping up pressure on governments that continue to use Cuban medical missions, not satisfied with having already forced at least a dozen nations to end their contracts with a program that has made an invaluable contribution to developing countries around the world with weak healthcare infrastructure and a lack of medical personnel. Cuban doctors have been consistently present in Africa to assist in combating Ebola and cholera epidemics.

The State Department’s “2026 Trafficking in Persons” report, includes a section on “Human Trafficking in Cuba’s Labor Export Program,” describing the medical missions as “human trafficking” and “forced labor” schemes that allegedly benefit onlythe Cuban government and exploit medical professionals by confiscating their salaries.

In a posting to Instagram, the pro-Cuban digital publication Belly of the Beast reported that Rubio himself decides on which governments will be put on a list of those that pay Cuban doctors for their services, threatening that those remaining on the list for two consecutive years will lose U.S. aid. The State Department report warns that “serving as active facilitators of trafficking, including as partners in this program, raises concerns of complicity….”