HUMAN CAPITAL
How has this situation specifically affected Cuban doctors and scientists—the most valuable sector of human capital and, at the same time, the one most targeted by these regulations abroad?
In 2026, the impact of the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) designation on Cuba’s scientific and medical sector has shifted from economic pressure to personalized and technological persecution.
If scientists and doctors are the “heart” of the human capital we mentioned earlier, the SSOT list is the instrument designed to stop that heart. Let us examine how it has operated specifically over the past two years (2024–2025):
1. The “Criminalization” of Medical Solidarity
In 2025, under the administration of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, the campaign against Cuban medical brigades reached unprecedented levels:
Sanctions on Third Countries: For the first time, the United States began imposing visa restrictions not only on Cuban officials, but also on officials from third countries (such as Brazil, Mexico, or African nations) that contract Cuban medical services.
Impact on migration flows: This pressure aims to force governments to cancel agreements. When a mission closes, thousands of professionals return to a Cuba whose economy is suffocated by the same designation, creating unbearable internal migratory pressure. Many, fearing they may not be able to work abroad again, choose to defect to third countries during their missions.
2. The Blockade of “Cuban Genius”: Science and Biotechnology
For a Cuban scientist in 2026, the SSOT list functions as an invisible yet impenetrable wall:
Barriers to publications and conferences: Researchers from institutions such as the CIGB or the Finlay Institute report that prestigious scientific publishers reject Cuban articles or block payment of membership fees, citing “compliance with terrorism list regulations.”
Supply suffocation: Cuban biotechnology, which sustained the country during the pandemic with its own vaccines, now struggles to import basic reagents. If equipment contains more than 10% U.S. components, the list prohibits its sale to Cuba. This forces scientists to improvise solutions, but the exhaustion is immense and pushes younger talent to seek laboratories abroad where proper tools are available.
3. Individual Financial Persecution
The harshest impact of the designation in 2024–2025 has been the closure of personal bank accounts:
Cuban doctors and scientists residing legally abroad or serving on missions have seen their accounts in European or Latin American banks closed solely due to their nationality, under the pretext of “compliance risk” related to the SSOT list.
Result: They are treated as financial pariahs. This discourages Cuban professionals from maintaining ties with their country and forces them into a total rupture in order to survive within the global banking system—thus accelerating the brain drain mentioned earlier.
END OF PART 5
Part 1: https://habana-havana.blogspot.com/2026/01/cuba-explicando-el-bloqueo-1.html
Part 2: https://habana-havana.blogspot.com/2026/01/cuba-explicando-el-bloqueo-parte-2.html
Part 3: https://habana-havana.blogspot.com/2026/01/cuba-explicando-el-bloqueo-parte-3.html
Part 4: https://habana-havana.blogspot.com/2026/01/explicando-el-bloqueo-parte-4.html
Part 6: https://habana-havana.blogspot.com/2026/01/explicando-el-bloqueo-parte-6-final.htm
Humberto. Tours in Havana. History, Art, Society. WhatsApp +53 52646921
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