{"id":1547,"date":"2026-07-09T05:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2026-07-09T05:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:08:05","slug":"an-italian-region-defies-us-pressure-to-end-a-cuban-doctors-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1547","title":{"rendered":"An Italian region defies US pressure to end a Cuban doctors program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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POLISTENA, Italy (AP) \u2014 Italy\u2019s southern Calabria region is the rare place in Europe where Cuba<\/span> sends medical professionals under a long-running program that the United States wants to stamp out.<\/p>\n

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Cuba\u2019s doctors for decades have worked in developing nations such as Gambia and Venezuela, skilled in providing care with scarce resources<\/span>. Over 200 now staff remote hospitals across Calabria, Italy\u2019s poorest region in the tip of the country\u2019s boot. A shortage of homegrown healthcare workers had forced some hospital departments to close.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a disaster. I was keeping the emergency room open all by myself,\u201d the chief physician of Polistena hospital, Francesco Moschella, told The Associated Press, recalling the days before the Cubans arrived in January 2023.<\/p>\n

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<\/span> that the Trump administration has isolated, sanctioned and wants to see changed.<\/p>\n

Facing U.S. pressure, some Caribbean and Central American countries<\/span> have canceled Cuban missions. But Calabria\u2019s governor has refused. Even if Cuba\u2019s socialism doesn\u2019t fit with his political views, he says the region depends on them.<\/p>\n

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One Calabria hospital had lines several hours long<\/h2>\n

Despite growing tourism and a strong farming economy, Calabria symbolizes southern Italy\u2019s lack of development compared to the more wealthy and industrialized north. Wages are about 30% lower, and its unemployment rate is double the national average.<\/p>\n

Calabria ranks last among Italy\u2019s 20 regions in public healthcare access, according to the health ministry.<\/p>\n

Until April, Calabria had spent 17 years under special administration due to persistent budget deficits, which along with corruption scandals and Mafia infiltration affected health investments. Many newly graduated doctors built careers in the north instead.<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba sent doctors to several areas of Italy. Calabria continued employing Cubans after the pandemic ended.<\/p>\n

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Emergency medicine specialist Zoila Yakelin Arevalo Cruz left her young son in Cuba in mid-2023. The emergency room where she works in Polistena town sees 30,000 patients annually, and six Cuban doctors make up half its staff.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor a first-world country, Europe, we had a completely different idea. We didn\u2019t think that the shortage of doctors was so serious,\u201d said Arevalo Cruz, 38. \u201cIn this hospital there were lines that lasted up to eight or 12 hours. Now, thanks to our work, in less than an hour a doctor visits you.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an AP visit last month, she conducted her work in now-fluent Italian. She says she even picked up some of the local dialect by chatting with grateful former patients who swing by to say hi.<\/p>\n

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