June 26, 2024 -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Tuesday called it "outrageous" that the United States included the Caribbean island on its list of countries failing to meet the minimum standards for combating human trafficking.

"The empire has once again listed Cuba on its manipulative report on human trafficking. (An) Outrageous maneuver of open war against Cuban medical collaboration," Diaz-Canel said on X, formerly Twitter.

According to the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report published Monday by the U.S. State Department and presented by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Cuba is among the nations with the highest rate of human trafficking, along with Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The report accuses the Cuban government of failing to make headway in eradicating the scourge and casts Cuba's international medical cooperation as a form of human trafficking that forces Cuban doctors to work abroad.

During the presentation of the report, Cuban medical personnel were described as "survivors of forced labor and exploitation in Cuba's labor export program, including its medical brigades."

"Enough of the cynicism, Secretary Blinken. You know well our policy of zero tolerance for this criminal practice," Diaz-Canel responded to the report.

"Penalization" for Cuba could entail sanctions, such as freezing non-humanitarian and non-commercial aid, or the U.S. refusal to approve loans to Cuba from multilateral institutions.

Cuban authorities have repeatedly denounced the U.S. action, stating that it does not reflect "Cuba's true performance in actively combating human trafficking."