Miami, United States. – A report Posted this month by the NGO Archive Cuba It reveals that the Bahamas Government allocates approximately 11 million dollars annually to the Cuban regime for “health cooperation”, within the framework of an agreement with the state -owned state -based medical services (CSMC), which has been qualified as “an undercover forced labor scheme”.
According to the documents analyzed by Cuba Archive (obtained by unofficial routes), the bilateral agreement signed in 2023 between the Ministry of Health of Bahamas and the CSMC contemplates the hiring of dozens of Cuban professionals in areas of health, education and medical technology, including X -ray technicians, physiotherapists and biomedical engineers. However, the contract prohibits workers from being hired independently and gives the Cuban company the total disciplinary control over them.
The payment scheme establishes that for each “medical specialist advisor” Bahamas pays $ 12,000 per month, of which only 1,200 are delivered directly to the worker. The rest is retained by the CSMC. For other categories, such as computer engineers or health technicians, the agreed salary is $ 5,000 per month, with just 990 assigned as a stipend to the worker. Thus, the Cuban State receives between 83.9% and 91.6% of the payment for each worker, according to the official breakdown of the agreement.
Collaborators also receive housing, transport, medical care and English courses, but the general conditions are precarious. “Being Bahamas the fourth most expensive town in the world, Cuban workers barely have something left to save with the low stipend they receive,” says the report.
In addition, contracts specify that workers should not disclose information for two years after the agreement is completed and are forced to participate in political activities organized by the regime, as monthly demonstrations against the US embargo in Nassau. “Cuban collaborators in Nassau are obliged to participate in public demonstrations against the United States embargo,” denounces the document.
Another outstanding concern is the possible illegality of the agreement, since many Cuban workers would operate without the labor permits required by the Bahamese legislation. According to local regulations, any contracting of foreigners must be preceded by the publication of vacancies and the confirmation of the non -existence of local candidates. “Using a person without work permission is a fine of up to $ 10,000 and imprisonment up to five years, or both,” the text warns.
To this is added that, according to the report, some Cuban workers are employed in clinics to select Bahamese patients who are then sent to Cuba as part of medical tourism. Cuba Archive questions the ethics of this model, warning that unnecessary treatments could be recommended for lucrative purposes.
Despite these irregularities, in December 2024, Bahamas Health Minister Dr. Michael Darville reaffirmed his commitment to the Cuban Health Cooperation Program, qualifying the exchange as “progressive and positive”.
The report also recalls the silence of the Bahamés government on the systematic violation of human rights by the Cuban regime. An emblematic case cited is deportation in 2024 of the young Marco Antonio Alfonso Bretowho had requested political asylum after participating in the protests of July 11, 2021 in Cuba. It was delivered by the Bahames and imprisoned authorities upon arriving on the island.
Finally, the document regrets that the Havana regime continues to receive millionaire foreign subsidies while continuing to export a model denounced by multiple organizations as institutionalized forced labor. “The agreements with Cuba lack transparency and accountability,” concludes the Cuba file report.
