Under the blazing Houston sun, Cuban native Alexander Jesús Figueredo Izaguirre stood on a scaffold, his helmet drenched in sweat and his hands covered in dust, when a coworker sliced his hand on a metal sheet.
The incident was immortalized in a Facebook post: the person who descended to tend to the wound, clean it, and stitch it up was not a paramedic or a rescue worker. Instead, it was a doctor with over 15 years of clinical experience, currently working construction because he couldn't yet practice medicine in the United States.
When the foreman inquired about where he learned to treat such injuries, Figueredo candidly replied, "In Cuba, I was a doctor." After a moment of silence, the foreman asked, "So what's a doctor doing on a scaffold?" Figueredo responded with pride, "This, my friend. Living. Starting over. Because anyone who knows how to work isn't afraid of any job."
The physician emphasized that working in construction doesn't bring him shame.
"These hands have both sutured patients in a hospital and built walls in Houston, and I did both with the same dignity. Many people know the doctor in the lab coat. Few know the man who climbed the scaffold without complaint, because rent doesn't care about pride," he wrote.
He also sent a message to fellow compatriots in similar circumstances: "If you're starting from scratch in a job that's not yours, listen to me: it doesn't take away who you are. It proves it," he wrote.
Figueredo, a specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine and a former resident in Urology, practiced at the 13 de Marzo Polyclinic in Bayamo. In April 2021, Cuban health authorities expelled him from the healthcare sector for five years after he posted on social media about the lack of medicine and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The regime accused him of tarnishing the healthcare system's reputation, while he maintained from the start that the punishment was politically motivated.
In July 2022, he arrived in the United States with his colleague Alexander Pupo Casas, after traversing Central America and Mexico. Since then, he has been residing in Houston, working various jobs while preparing for the USMLE and ECFMG certification exams to validate his degree, a process that can take up to five years and cost around $30,000.
This reality affects thousands of Cuban professionals in exile. According to a report by Telemundo 51 from last May, over 300 Cuban doctors were trapped in a migratory limbo preventing them from working or practicing, within a network of approximately 1,500 foreign doctors who arrived in the previous five years. At least 27 had passed all the revalidation exams but still couldn't join hospitals due to immigration status issues.
The scaffold post came just two days after Figueredo sent an open letter to Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, urging that the ASPIRE program—endowed with $61.5 million for Caribbean countries to directly hire doctors—include Cuban exiled professionals already residing in the U.S. "The doctors are already here. We just need to be allowed to be doctors," he wrote in his letter.
By June 2024, Figueredo had purchased his first Mercedes-Benz in the United States, less than two years after arriving, a sign that the journey—though challenging—is progressing.
Challenges and Opportunities for Cuban Doctors in the U.S.
What challenges do Cuban doctors face when trying to practice in the U.S.?
Cuban doctors often face immigration status issues, require validation of their medical degrees through exams like the USMLE and ECFMG, and endure a lengthy and costly revalidation process.
How long does it generally take for Cuban doctors to revalidate their degrees in the U.S.?
The process can take up to five years and may cost around $30,000, depending on various factors, including passing required exams and resolving any immigration issues.
What is the ASPIRE program and how could it benefit Cuban doctors?
The ASPIRE program is a U.S. initiative with $61.5 million in funding for Caribbean countries to hire doctors directly. Figueredo advocates for including Cuban exiled doctors in this program to help them practice in the U.S.