Djibouti

Executive summary

Since 2001, Cuba's medical mission to Djibouti has evolved through successive cooperation agreements, most recently the December 2019 Acuerdo de Cooperación, remaining active with roughly 100 personnel as of 2026. Brigade numbers fluctuate across official reports (30 in 2015, 106 in 2019, 84 in 2020, 97 in 2022), reflecting inconsistent record-keeping rather than transparent accounting, while personnel are documented as compelled to falsify medical statistics. Testimonies confirm labour rights violations including surveillance, restricted movement and identity documentation, migration-law constraints under Cuban Decree 306 and Regulation 168, alongside mandatory political engagement in-country. Behind humanitarian diplomacy lies a system of vigilance and coercion. The numbers on paper rarely match the lives behind them.

Mission data

Research profile