CARIBBEAN leaders have condemned a new US policy that aims to restrict the activities of Cuban medical missions.

They insist that hundreds of Cuban medical staff do essential work across the Caribbean.

Guyana’s Foreign Minister Hugh Todd told reporters on Tuesday that foreign ministers from 15-member Caribbean trade bloc Caricom had recently met US special envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone in Washington after the US threatened to restrict the visas of those involved with Cuban missions.