Iraq

Executive summary

Cuba's medical presence in Iraq began with a 378-member teaching brigade in September 1978, later supplemented by recurring specialist visits led by Dr. Rodrigo Álvarez Cambra, who treated Saddam Hussein for roughly two decades; the mission is now inactive, with zero active personnel and no renewed accords despite 2025 diplomatic exchanges. No independent verification of figures is available, though the historical count of 378 remains officially documented without evident inflation. Systemic labour violations are implicated through Cuba's own legal framework—Resolution 368/2020, Penal Code Article 176, and Migration Law provisions—governing personnel under coercive contractual conditions. A dictator's spine, mended by hands not free to choose their patients.

Mission data

Research profile