The Cuban healthcare and biotechnology sectors — crown jewels of the country’s revolution — today find themselves at breaking point thanks to the U.S. campaign of economic strangulation, which has moved beyond trade restrictions to a direct assault on human services. Washington has also intensified pressure on the Global South to dismantle Cuban medical missions, calling their humanitarian work “forced labour”, a claim Havana has rejected as a pretext to starve the nation of its remaining foreign income.Thus, for the first time in decades, the island’s renowned health indicators are wavering, and its factories are often paralysed by power cuts and resource shortages. Navigating this intersection of high-level science and survival is Mitchell Valdes-Sosa, General Director of the Cuban Center for Neuroscience and a member emeritus of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. Dr. Valdes-Sosa is one of the architects of Cuba’s biotechnological strategy and an advisor to the Minister of Science. He recently answered questions from The Hindu about how his country and compatriots are negotiating the crisis.Washington DC has intensified its campaign to discredit Cuba’s medical internationalism. How is the Cuban administration responding to this attempt to stifle the export of professional services? What steps are being taken to protect the nation’s biotechnological sovereignty and the global reach of the Henry Reeve Brigades?