The government of Uruguay completed on Wednesday the change in the payment mechanism for Cuban professionals operating at the José Martí Eye Hospital in Montevideo: funds will no longer be transferred to the Cuban State, but directly to each doctor and technician in the brigade, as confirmed by the hospital director, Alejandro Fischel, to the national media Subrayado.
Fischel described the brigade as a team of 10 doctors and 20 technicians, nurses, a cook, and a driver, and he was emphatic about the impact of the change on daily operations: "The work of the medical brigade in the hospital didn't change, nothing, the work remains the same."
The adjustment responds to the pressure exerted by United States, which in late August included Uruguay for the first time in its annual report to Congress on forced labor in Cuban medical missions. Washington identified 15 countries whose governments funnel payments directly to the Cuban state for these services and counted 21 Cuban professionals linked to the program in Uruguay during 2026.
The U.S. Embassy in Montevideo had warned that "payments go directly to the Cuban embassy and there is no evidence that the doctors themselves receive compensation for their work serving the Uruguayan people."
The chancellor Mario Lubetkin confirmed the new scheme on Tuesday in an interview with El Observador: "The significant change now is that instead of paying this country, we are providing social protection and a stipend to the professional." Lubetkin added that Cuban doctors will have individual accounts at the Banco de Previsión Social (BPS) in Uruguay.
The head of Uruguayan diplomacy also emphasized that the agreement was negotiated with both parties: "We spoke with both U.S. authorities and those from Cuba, and we achieved what we wanted: for the 20 Cuban doctors to continue performing eye surgeries in this country."
The previous agreement, signed in 2011 between the Ministry of Public Health, the State Health Services Administration (ASSE), and the BPS, allocated up to 250,000 dollars annually for stipends, travel expenses, and transfers, which were deposited into an account of the brigade. The president of the BPS, Jimena Pardo, clarified in September that these funds did not constitute the salary of the specialists —managed by the Cuban government— but rather a "reimbursement of expenses."
The program, part of the so-called Miracle Operation, has been ongoing in Uruguay since 2007 and, as of August 2026, has recorded more than 956,000 consultations, 222,000 screenings, and 122,000 surgeries, with the participation of over 160 Cuban doctors across seven brigades.
The pressure from Washington regarding these types of agreements is part of a broader policy: in July 2026, the U.S. sanctioned the Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, and the Central Unit for Medical Cooperation (UCCM), accusing the regime of withholding between 50% and 95% of the salaries that receiving countries pay for the services of their professionals abroad.
Lubetkin himself acknowledged that Uruguay cannot control what doctors do with the money received afterwards, including the possibility that they may transfer it to the Cuban government. U.S. legislation states that if a country appears in these reports for two consecutive years, the Secretary of State cannot provide certain international assistance to it, which means that Uruguay would have to appear again in the 2027 report for that provision to take effect.
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