Despite giving up, Roberto Ochiuto, who has been indicated for corruption, announced his immediate recondidatura.
Miami, United States. – Roberto Ochiuto, president of the Italian region of Calabria and the main promoter of the program that keeps hundreds of Cuban doctors in working conditions reported as “modern slavery”, announced this Thursday his resignation to office and his immediate recondidatura.
The surprising decision is produced in the midst of a judicial investigation for corruption and a wave of criticism of his defense of the agreement with Havana.
“I have decided to resign, but I have also decided to apply again. I have decided to tell the Calabresses: ‘Let you who write the future of Calabria, be you who say if Calabria must stop or if this work must continue,” said OCCHIUTO in A video posted on your social networks.
The Catanzaro Prosecutor’s Office investigates him for alleged crimes of corruption, although the president insists on his innocence. “I would never have imagined having to share with you news of this type. For the first time in my life I have received a guarantee warning, they tell me that in the framework of a broader investigation that would imply several people. A warning for corruption. To me? That I have managed this region with an absolute rigor, that I have never done anything that even approaches a hypothesis of corruption.”
Occhiuto claimed to have cooperated with justice from the beginning and assured that his appearance before the prosecutors left him “satisfied and very relieved.” “I plan to have clarified everything,” He told the media at the exit of the Prosecutor’s Office.
The resignation does not obey, as he explained, to the judicial notification itself, but to the political blockade climate that has generated in his administration: “Now no one is responsible for signing anything, everyone thinks that this experience will be like the previous ones,” he said.
Although Occhiuto says he has no conflicts with the magistracy, he did lash out at his political rivals: “I have a problem with these odiators, with these people bitter with life, who are strength from the failure of Calabria, which almost rejoice when they speak badly of this region. I have a problem with whom they use judicial investigation as a key to weakening or politically killing the president of the region: it will not be so”.
But its permanence in the public debate is not only due to the corruption scandal. During the last two years, Occhiuto has been one of the main defenders of the Health Cooperation Agreement with the Cuban regime, which has brought Calabria to 372 doctors of the island in severely questioned conditions.
“Cuban doctors in Calabria are completely free, [y están] perfectly integrated in the communities in which they work; Some have even married, ”he said in statements to IL SOLE 24 ORE. He also described as “nonsense” the complaints that indicate the doctors as “slaves” or as people “controlled by the regime.”
However, a previous investigation of Cubanet He denied those statements by documenting what various sources qualify as “a form of modern slavery.” Although Italy deposits a gross salary of approximately 4,700 euros per month directly in the accounts of doctors, these are obliged to transfer between 54% and 80% to the Marketing of Cuban Medical Services, SA (CSMC), a state company that manages the missions. The testimony of one of the doctors interviewed was explicit: “For us it is 1,200 euros. Bank notifications do not lie.”
The surveillance to which professionals are also subjected has also been documented: they must ask permission to leave the city where they are assigned, they are prohibited from joining Italian unions or participating in demonstrations, and if they wish to marry or establish a sentimental relationship they must notify the Head of the Medical Mission. “They wanted to report every personal relationship I established. Not even my parents owe so many explanations. It’s crazy,” said a doctor consulted.
The use of irregular deductions has also been denounced: the CSMC retains up to 71.5% of the extra hours, claiming non -existent taxes. In December 2024, the company appropriated more than 80% of the “month 13”, an annual bonus. “It’s out of necessity, they don’t give you another choice,” said Dr. Campos. “It goes beyond a labor bond: it is a link like master and slave.”
For the Cuban jurist Laritza Diversent, director of the Cubalex Center, the model applied to Cuban doctors in Italy meets all the elements of forced labor: “They do not share their salary voluntarily, they do it because they are in a condition of poverty. That is the basis of slavery. It is a form of modern slavery.”
Diversent also warns about the political use of these missions: “Medical missions influence the electorate. If they are taking them to rural regions where other doctors do not want to go, that influences the vote.”
Meanwhile, from the Italian Parliament itself, critical voices have been raised, such as deputy Anna Laura Orrico, who He asked Occhiuto “Great of the work activity of Cuban doctors.”
The early elections in Calabria will be held in the coming weeks. “It will be the Calabresses who decide the future of Calabria, not others,” Ochiuto reiterated.
