Government ministers in Grenada have signaled their willingness to surrender their U.S. visas in support of Cuba, citing the invaluable contribution of Cuban doctors and nurses to the country’s healthcare system.
Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall, a graduate of a Cuban university, is the second government minister to publicly declare support for Cuba in recent days amidst pressure from the Donald Trump administration in the United States to expand an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy, targeting alleged forced labour linked to the Cuban labour export programme.
“I am personally one of the persons who graduated from Cuba, and as such, I have a moral obligation to support the Cubans in every way. So, if it means that the Government of the US has to take away our visas because we support the Cuban initiative, so be it,” said Minister Cornwall.
The St Patrick MP was at the time responding to a question posed when he appeared as a guest on the Grenada Broadcasting Network (GBN) To the Point programme regarding the government’s reaction to the move by the Trump administration.
His statement comes in response to a recent announcement by the U.S. State Department regarding an expanded visa restriction policy linked to Cuba’s overseas medical missions.
According to the U.S. State Department website, the policy now extends to current or former Cuban government officials and foreign government officials involved in what has been described as a “Cuban labour export programme.”
Minister Cornwall was firm on the position that “you have to put the people above one’s political self, and, in that sense, I believe that my government has already stated that we are prepared to go to the extreme to make sure to keep our people safe.”
“So, if it means that we have to give up our visa right to the U.S. to make sure that Grenada stands behind Cuba as one of the countries that support Grenada in thick and thin, so be it,” he remarked.
Cornwall reaffirmed his unwavering support for Cuba, stressing that Cuban healthcare professionals provide a “yeoman service” to the people of Grenada.
He warned that terminating the Cuban medical mission in Grenada would deliver a severe blow to the nation’s healthcare sector.
“The Cuban doctors and nurses who have visited our shores over the years have performed a valuable service to our people. We complain every day that the service in the hospital is bad, but we have people who have graduated from St. George’s University, and they are Grenadians, and they are not here to fully support the health system, so if we can depend on the Cuban graduates to help in the system until we can fix it to a point, I say so be it.”
Cornwall’s remarks come on the heels of similar sentiments expressed by Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Andall during the 2025 budget debate last week.
Andall, also a Cuban university graduate, emphasised that Grenada has a legal, moral, and ethical duty to stand by Cuba, urging the country to maintain principled diplomatic ties rather than approach them in an “opportunistic or transactional” manner.
“Cuba continues to be a trustworthy friend, and partner not only to Grenada, and the Caribbean, but of peoples the world over,” Andall told the country’s Parliament emphasising Grenada’s unwavering support for Cuba.