LOS ANGELES — A group of eight American students have become the first American graduates of a Cuban medical school in a rare exemption to Washington’s 45-year embargo against the communist nation.

The students were allowed to participate in a program allowing foreigners from disadvantaged backgrounds to study medicine in Cuba free of charge.

The eight said they planned to return to America and put the education paid for by Fidel Castro’s communist government to use in hospitals back home.

“Cuba offered us full scholarships to study medicine here. In exchange, we commit ourselves to go back to our communities to provide health care to underserved people,” Carmen Landau, 30, of Oakland, Calif., said

One other American had previously graduated from the school after transferring from an American university, but the six women and two men were the first Americans to complete the entire six-year program since Mr. Castro offered the free medical training to American students.

The U.S. State Department said it would not oppose the program, citing American policy that aims to encourage contact between ordinary Cubans and Americans.

The ailing Cuban leader, 80, did not attend the graduation for students from 25 countries. He has not appeared in public since intestinal surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul Castro a year ago.

More than 10,000 students now attend the Latin American School, which opened in 1999 to provide free medical training to foreign students.