Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has publicly challenged what he characterizes as a biased Western media narrative targeting Cuba’s international medical missions. The diplomatic response was triggered by an analysis from the Cubadebate Media Observatory that exposed a recent investigation attempting to portray Cuba’s health cooperation programs as state-sponsored manipulation.
Rodríguez highlighted the apparent hypocrisy in Western discourse, noting that while Cuba’s informational efforts are systematically labeled as ‘manipulation,’ campaigns orchestrated by Western governments and Washington-funded entities are routinely legitimized as expressions of ‘civil society.’
The Foreign Minister further criticized the asymmetric terminology applied to online activism, pointing out that Cuban citizens sharing positive content about their country are frequently dismissed as ‘digital troops,’ while those coordinating hostile campaigns against the island are celebrated as ‘freedom activists.’
This defense of Cuba’s medical diplomacy comes against the backdrop of substantial historical contributions. Official statistics from Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health reveal that over the past six decades, more than 605,000 healthcare professionals have served missions across 165 nations.
Notable achievements include Cuba’s pivotal role in combating Ebola in Africa, eliminating blindness across Latin America and the Caribbean, addressing cholera in Haiti, and the global deployment of medical brigades during the COVID-19 pandemic. These efforts represent one of the world’s most extensive humanitarian medical cooperation programs, demonstrating Cuba’s commitment to global health solidarity despite limited economic resources.