An Italian region defies US pressure to end a Cuban doctors program

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https://apnews.com/article/italy-cuba-doctors-trump-calabria-7e8fcedd47194236986b402c68f0e5fe

An Italian region defies US pressure to end a Cuban doctors program
By PAOLO SANTALUCIA
Updated 5:03 AM CDT, July 9, 2026

POLISTENA, Italy (AP) — Italy’s southern Calabria region is the rare place in Europe where Cuba sends medical professionals under a long-running program that the United States wants to stamp out.

Cuba’s doctors for decades have worked in developing nations such as Gambia and Venezuela, skilled in providing care with scarce resources. Over 200 now staff remote hospitals across Calabria, Italy’s poorest region in the tip of the country’s boot. A shortage of homegrown healthcare workers had forced some hospital departments to close.

“It was a disaster. I was keeping the emergency room open all by myself,” the chief physician of Polistena hospital, Francesco Moschella, told The Associated Press, recalling the days before the Cubans arrived in January 2023.

Their presence triggered a visit this year from U.S. officials. The U.S. has long criticized the Cuban program and called it a moneymaker for the socialist government that the Trump administration has isolated, sanctioned and wants to see changed.

Facing U.S. pressure, some Caribbean and Central American countries have canceled Cuban missions. But Calabria’s governor has refused. Even if Cuba’s socialism doesn’t fit with his political views, he says the region depends on them.

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