Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is calling on President Trump to tighten the economic noose around the Cuban government by targeting two of its biggest financial lifelines: its international medical missions and the military-run conglomerate GAESA.
In a letter sent yesterday, the Florida Senator urged the administration to build on a January 29, 2026, Executive Order that has already begun to squeeze the island’s leadership.
Scott’s proposal focuses on hitting the regime where it hurts most—its wallet. He specifically pointed to the medical missions program, which sends tens of thousands of healthcare workers abroad.
While the Cuban government frames these as humanitarian efforts, Scott describes them as “coercive” and a form of “forced labor,” noting that the regime often pockets between 75% and 90% of the workers’ wages.
To stop this, Scott is suggesting the U.S. implement secondary tariffs and suspend foreign aid to any country—specifically mentioning Mexico—that continues to host these missions.
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The Senator also took aim at GAESA, the massive military-controlled umbrella company that dominates roughly 40% of the Cuban economy, including tourism, banking, and retail. Scott argued that when foreign governments sign infrastructure deals with GAESA, they are “extending the military’s economic stranglehold.”
He is asking the President to bar U.S.-linked entities from signing any new agreements with the conglomerate and to impose visa bans on officials who facilitate these deals.
This push for increased pressure comes on the heels of a “mass pardon” recently announced by Havana, which Scott dismissed as a sham because it failed to release any political prisoners.
“The United States cannot allow the Cuban regime to continue profiting while it jails innocent people and denies God-given rights to its citizens,” Scott wrote in the letter.
He credited Trump’s previous actions, including visa revocations in 2025 that led countries like Guatemala and Jamaica to phase out Cuban medical contracts, as proof that aggressive diplomacy works.
Scott told the President that while the current Executive Order successfully targets oil, the next logical step is to dismantle the revenue streams provided by medical missions and GAESA infrastructure projects to further isolate the Castro/Díaz-Canel administration.
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