Arequipa, Peru – Authorities of the Cuban regime and Bahamas held a meeting this weekend to strengthen collaboration in health.
A state medium report Cubadebate It informs that the conversations are part of the framework prior to the V International Convention Cuba-Salud 2025, to be held between April 21 and 25 at the Palace of Conventions of Havana and the Pabexpo Fairgrounds.
“The Cuban Public Health Minister, Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda, and the Minister of Health and Welfare of the Bahamas, Dr. Michael Darville, highlighted the mutual commitment to promote initiatives that improve the access and quality of medical services in their respective countries,” says the official note.
The two decades of cooperation between the two governments have allowed development in Bahamas of one of the most profitable businesses of the Castro dictatorship: the export of Cuban health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical computer science and electromédics specialists.
During this Saturday’s dialog and oncologyidentified as sectors with growing demand.
In addition, Dr. Darville, in his second participation in the Cuba-Salud Convention and his associated events, announced his speech at a panel on universal health coverage, where he will share the experiences of his country.
“This panel seeks to encourage the exchange of innovative ideas and solutions to achieve equity in access to health,” said the Minister of Bahamas.
In the midst of the worst health crisis in Cuba in decades, marked by the shortage of medicines, basic supplies and a deposit hospital infrastructure, the regime of Havana organizes the V International Convention Cuba-Salud 2025.
The event is profiled by the authorities as “great importance, designed to promote science, innovation and intersectoral collaboration as fundamental axes in the response to current challenges in the field of public health.”
Cuban medical “collaboration”: a Castro business
Last week, Washington officially denounced the Medical Missions Program of Cuba, which he described as a system based on forced labor and labor exploitation. According to An article published in Shareamericaan official website of the US government, Havana uses this program to obtain substantial income at the cost of abusive conditions towards its medical staff.
“Cuba continues to take advantage of the forced labor of its workers and the abusive and coercive labor practices of the regime are well documented,” said US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announcing an extension of policies to counteract these abuses in February 2025. “The United States is determined to counteract the practice of forced labor worldwide,” he added.
The US report states that more than 22,000 Cuban workers, mainly doctors, are sent by the regime to about 50 countries. In return, the island’s government received income for approximately 4.9 billion dollars in 2022, money that comes from the salary of these professionals, from which the regime retains between 75 and 95%.
Former members of these medical missions have denounced serious abuse As the lack of payment of their salaries, confiscation of medical passports and credentials, restriction of rights and reprisals in case of leaving the program. In 2018, some doctors filed a collective claim against the Cuban regime, which is still ongoing, in which they claim to have worked under threats of economic, personal and legal reprisals.
The conditions described as abusive and inhuman are well documented according to US authorities and international organizations. In 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur about contemporary forms of slavery expressed concern about the situation of Cuban workers sent to Italy, Catar and Spain. This UN expert denounced coercive practices, mass salary confiscation and extreme restrictions on mobility and contact with the local population.
