Salazar, Giménez, Díaz-Balart, and Smith Urge Rubio and Bessent to Sanction Cuban Regime's Forced Labor Medical Apparatus

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representatives María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26), Carlos A. Giménez (FL-28) and Christopher H. Smith (NJ-04) sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent urging the Administration to impose sanctions on the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos (CSMC), the Cuban regime's state-run entity that oversees its overseas medical missions and serves as a major source of revenue for the dictatorship.

In the letter, the lawmakers argue that CSMC oversees Cuba's overseas medical missions, exploiting Cuban medical professionals while generating revenue that helps finance the regime's repressive apparatus. They urge the Departments of State and the Treasury to use all available authorities to sanction the entity and increase financial pressure on the Cuban dictatorship.
"Today's Cuba is a failed state that survives by exploiting its own people," said Congresswoman Salazar. "The dictatorship no longer creates prosperity. It exports forced labor. Cuban doctors are stripped of their wages, denied their freedom, and forced to bankroll the very system that oppresses them. This is one of the world's largest state-sponsored forced labor schemes, and it is long past time to sanction those responsible."

“The Cuban regime has built a system of modern day slavery, exploiting its doctors and healthcare workers to enrich the dictatorship while stripping them of their freedom and separating them from their families. The Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos is a key instrument of that exploitation. The United States must hold those responsible for this forced labor scheme accountable by sanctioning this entity and continuing to deny the Cuban regime the resources it uses to repress the Cuban people," said Rep. Giménez.

“The brutal, communist Cuban dictatorship continues to exploit and take advantage of Cuban medical professionals through the so-called Comercializadora de Servicios Medicos Cubanos. As the prime author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (PL 106-386) and the pending Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 1144)—the latter of which Rep. Salazar is an original co-sponsor—any organization or entity that is complicit in forced labor and/or human trafficking should be sanctioned by the United States government, and we are calling upon Secretary Rubio to take this critical step towards further destabilizing the Cuban regime,” said Rep. Smith.

Key Highlights from the Letter

• A Tool of Repression and Financing: The lawmakers argue that CSMC exploits Cuban healthcare professionals through the regime's overseas medical missions while generating revenue that helps sustain the dictatorship and its repressive apparatus.
• A Major Source of Revenue for the Regime: As Cuba's traditional industries have declined, the letter argues that revenues generated through overseas medical missions have become one of the regime's principal sources of income, helping finance its operations and maintain political control.
• A Call for Maximum Financial Pressure: The lawmakers urge the Departments of State and the Treasury to sanction CSMC under applicable U.S. law and evaluate additional financial measures against governments and individuals that facilitate the regime's forced labor program.

The lawmakers reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the Cuban people and advancing policies that hold the communist regime accountable for its systematic human rights abuses and exploitation of its own citizens.

To read the full letter, click here.