Since March 2025 Washington confirmed the entry into force of measures to officials hiring Cuban medical brigades.
Lima, Peru – the Italian government warned its regions that could be subject to sanctions from the United States for the hiring of Cuban doctors managed through the Castro regime.
The medium The C News 24 shared the alert issued by the Italian Foreign Ministry that updates on the American sanctioning regulations and Cubanet He had access to the document.
It is not about tariffs, the text points out, but sanctions for those who use Cuban health professionals and do not fit the rules dictated by the US.
The hiring scheme of Cuban professionals in Italy has generated a strong political and media debate in recent months. Although it was presented as an emergency response to the lack of health personnel, the program ended up questioned for its opacity, high costs for the regional administration and for the complaints of labor exploitation against the doctors of the island by the Cuban company signatary of the agreement with the Italian region.
In that sense, the note recalls that since March 2025 Washington confirmed the entry into force of measures, among which are visa restrictions for officials (and even direct relatives) who hire Cuban doctors Through intermediation of the Cuban government.
“According to the information transmitted by our Embassy in Washington, the US sanction measures would not be applied in the event that: (a) Cuban doctors are hired with individual contracts, respecting international standards; (b) said doctors are directly paid, without the intermediation of the Agency for the Internationalization of Medical Services of the Ministry of Public Health of Public Health of Public Health of Cuba (CSMC SA). ”, Underline the document.
The United States also invited the Italian authorities to continue monitoring the situation and to collect all useful information on possible vexatious conditions to which Cuban doctors used in the European country could be submitted.
The White House sanctions will especially weigh on Calabria, a region that has found in Cuban doctors a relief for their health system and in whose bosom the exploitation system towards the doctors was uncovered.
A recent investigation of Cubanet entitled From Havana to Calabria He revealed that the hiring of Cuban doctors in Italy is controlled by the Marketing of Medical Services Cubans SA (CSMC), which retains about 70 % of the salary paid by the Italian state. Although Italy transfers around 4,700 euros per month for each doctor, they only receive between 1,100 and 1,200 euros, which in two years has generated more than 20 million euros of net profit for the Cuban company.
The scheme includes abusive discounts on overtime through a false 43 % tax and an additional 50 % cut, configuring a double tax burden that violates Italian fiscal standards. In addition, the CSMC imposes a contract parallel to the signed with the regional health authorities, creating an unprecedented contradictory framework that strips the Italian laws and consolidates a system of salary extraction and political control over professionals. Different analysts have described it as an expropriative and coercive practice, which reopens the debate on the legitimacy of importing a model that has been described as a form of modern work trafficking.
The findings have reached the Italian Parliament and the Police, especially after the escape of at least seven Cuban galenos of the mission and its impact on the public health system in the region. As a consequence, a Domino effect of media and political repercussions with legal implications in Italy.
