Castro dictatorship pocketed 94% of salaries paid for Cuban doctors sold as slave labor to Mexico

Modern-day slavery is alive and well, and Cuba’s communist Castro dictatorship is making a fortune off this heinous practice. An investigation by a Mexican watchdog organization found that the Cuban government pocketed 94.4% of the so-called salaries paid by the Mexican government for Cuban doctors sent to that country on “medical missions” during the COVID-19 pandemic. In practice, these missions are nothing more than modern-day slavery, where Cubans are sold as slave labor with the Castro regime keeping almost all the cash the doctors are supposed to be paid.

Via Diario de Cuba (my translation):

The Cuban government pocketed 94.4% of the salaries for doctors sent to Mexico during the pandemic

The National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information, and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) of Mexico has accused the Cuban government of pocketing 94.4% of the salary paid to Cuban doctors sent to Mexico during the pandemic, according to reports in the digital edition of the local radio station Radio Fórmula.

INAI Commissioner Norma Julieta del Río Venegas urged Bienestar Bank to provide clarity on the payments to Cuban doctors who arrived in Mexico amid the Covid-19 health crisis. The autonomous organization confirms that the Federal Government paid $10,700 to Havana for the hiring of healthcare specialists as agreed between the governments of Miguel Díaz-Canel and Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

This figure was revealed by DIARIO DE CUBA in June 2020 when it obtained details of the signed contract, approved by the Institute of Health for Welfare (INSABI) and the authorities of the Mexican capital.

At that time, a total of $6,255,792 was paid for the work of 585 Cuban doctors and nurses sent by Havana to face the pandemic.

Del Río Venegas now stated that “INSABI exposed itself as incompetent by disclosing the invoices generated with this hiring.”

The commissioner specified that the $10,700 (181,900 Mexican pesos) for each of the 585 Cuban doctors and nurses was granted for a period of three months.

Del Río Venegas declared that, according to an international report on the matter that she had access to, “it is only said that Havana gave them $600 for three months and that the rest will be covered by the Government of Mexico.”

Before the INAI assembly, the commissioner accused the Cuban government of “keeping” 94.4% of the amount it charged for the services of its doctors in Mexican territory.

The Cuban regime, increasingly dependent on exporting professionals to earn dollars, admitted at the end of 2023 that one of its goals for the new year was to open new markets for its doctors abroad.

Starting this year, the UN once again pointed to the Cuban regime for the persistent violations of the rights of workers exported by Havana, especially doctors sent on “internationalist missions,” and warned that the governments of Italy, Qatar, and Spain could be considered accomplices to these mechanisms.

In a letter sent to the Island’s representation before the Human Rights Council by Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, he warned that he had continued to receive accusations about a pattern that qualifies as “forced labor.”

According to the document, dated November 2, 2023, and disseminated by the NGO Prisoners Defenders, “the working conditions to which workers of different professional categories would be subjected could amount to forced labor, according to the indicators established by the International Labor Organization.”

The expert referred to the accusations made against Havana in 2019 by his own rapporteurship and supported by hundreds of complaints from exported Cubans and copies of agreements and contracts that include numerous violations of basic human rights, to which the regime responded in 2020 by denying all allegations.

Now, Obokata pointed to “additional information” received and emphasized: “I fully recognize the value of Cuban cooperation and the contributions that have been achieved in terms of healthcare in multiple countries internationally. However, I became aware that many of the concerns raised in the previous communication persist, and therefore, I would like to reiterate my concern about the alleged abuses of fundamental rights, including the right to privacy, freedom, freedom of expression and association, and freedom of movement of Cuban professionals in temporary migration programs and missions in contracting countries.”

He also warned that “the salaries of Cuban personnel would be considered inadequate because they do not allow for a decent life and are often below the average wage of workers in the respective destination countries. Likewise, the confiscation of passports continue, and curfews persist in some countries.”