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A specialist doctor from Santiago de Cuba published an open letter on Facebook addressed to the Minister of Public Health, in which he reports that he has been unable to obtain a passport for three years to reunite with his family abroad, despite having processed his resignation a year and a half ago.
The author is Dr. Alberto Tejeda Ill, who identifies as a Specialist in Secondary Care and explains that he is classified as "regulated" by Vital Category, a condition imposed by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) on medical specialists to restrict their ability to leave the country.
"I am a Secondary Care Specialist, and therefore I am not allowed to obtain a passport or travel outside of Cuba to reunite with my family, as I am 'regulated,' as it is commonly known," Tejeda wrote in his letter.
The online application portal of the Cuban government automatically rejected your passport request with the following message: "The application cannot be processed, citizen regulated by Vital Category by the MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH: SPECIALIST DOCTOR. Please report to the relevant authority." The doctor included a screenshot of that rejection as evidence of the complaint.
Tejeda points out that the situation is particularly arbitrary because he no longer has an employment relationship with MINSAP: "I am facing restrictions from an employer (Cuban Public Health) when I am no longer their employee and there is no employment contract in place," he questioned, directly asking whether his universal human rights, his right to emigrate in search of better economic opportunities, and his labor rights are being violated.
"I have been receiving negative responses for 3 years, and I'm not told whether this comes from the Health Office of Santiago de Cuba, the Ministry itself, or both," he wrote. He added that he has sent two letters to the Ministry without receiving a reply and that his request has been denied three times through the province's mechanisms.
The doctor also rejects the argument that his presence is indispensable for the system: "No one is irreplaceable. [...] After processing my leave, the service continued to function normally," he argued. He warned that the repeated refusals could have another motivation: "The restrictions weigh on all similar Specialists in the country, but claiming rights is a personal action; perhaps the refusals are reprisals for having the courage to confront the arbitrariness."
Tejeda also refers to the new Cuban migration legislation. On May 5, 2026, the was published in the Official Gazette along with its . However, the doctor warns that this regulation does not resolve his situation: "According to the current or previous legal framework, they can authorize me following an individual analysis, which is left to the discretion and willingness of the corresponding officials."
The historical legal basis for these restrictions is Decree 306 from October 11, 2012, which conditions the departure of "vital" professionals from the country on the approval of their employers and higher authorities. In January 2023, the Cuban government expanded these restrictions to medical specialists, dentists, health technicians, and nursing graduates.
The case of Dr. Tejeda is not isolated. In May 2024, the surgeon José Manuel Suárez Villalobos, from Camagüey, with 28 years of service, publicly denounced the same situation, asking, "How long will I be punished for being a specialist?" The organization Prisoners Defenders documented more than 1,402 cases of Cuban professionals in the sector affected by restrictions and violations of their rights, according to a report published in January 2024.
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