The United States has expanded an existing visa restriction policy to target Cuban officials believed to be tied to a labor program that sends Cuban workers overseas, particularly health care workers, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Rubio said the expanded restrictions target individuals and immediate family members of individuals believed to be responsible for the program, which he described as "forced labor." The U.S. has already imposed restrictions on several people, including some Venezuelans, he added.
The Caribbean island nation's health service generates major export earnings by sending health workers around the world.
"Cuba's labor export programs, which include the medical missions, enrich the Cuban regime, and in the case of Cuba's overseas medical missions, deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their home country," Rubio said.
The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States and Cuba have had a strained relationship since Fidel Castro took over in a 1959 revolution, and a U.S. trade embargo has been in place for decades.
