ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — Finance Minister, Dennis Cornwall says he and others in the Grenada government are willing to give up their United States (US) visas in support of the people of Cuba as he defended Havana’s health brigade system that has come under fire from the United States.
Cornwall, said as a former graduate of a Cuban University, he has a moral obligation and as a government minister he believes that the Cuban doctors and nurses in Grenada’s healthcare system are providing irreplaceable service.
“I always believe you have to put the people above one’s political self and, in that sense, I believe that my government has already sighted that we are prepared to go to the extreme to make sure to keep our people safe,” Cornwall said as he spoke on the weekly Wednesday Government hour on the state-owned Grenada Broadcasting Network (GBN).
“So, if it means that we have to give up our visa’s right to the US to make sure that Grenada stands behind Cuba as one of the countries that support Grenada in thick and thin, so be it
“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, be it,” he told the programme, in response to a question regarding the Dickon Mitchell government’s reaction to the recent announcement that the Trump administration that it is expanding an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labour linked to the Cuban labour export programme.
“This expanded policy applies to current or former Cuban government officials, and other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or involved in, the Cuban labour export programme, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions,” said the announcement posted on the State Department website.
Cornwall said that wrapping up the Cuban medical mission in Grenada will result in significant harm to the island’s healthcare system.
“The Cuban doctors and nurses who have visited our shores over the years have performed a valuable service to our people,” he said.
“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,” said Cornwall.
“I fully support the Cubans at any time, anywhere, because I think they are doing a very useful and yeoman service to the Government and people of Grenada,” he said.
Last week, as he made his contribution to the 2025 national budget debate, Foreign Affairs Minister, Joseph Andall, who is also a Cuban graduate, said that Grenada not only has a legal, moral and ethical obligation to stand by the people of Cuba but the island should avoid being opportunistic or transactional as it pertains to the relations between both countries.