Ochiuto defended the agreement with Cuban doctors and minimized defections by attributing them to “love”, despite complaints of labor exploitation.
Dublin, Ireland.- Within the framework of the electoral campaign for the presidency of the Calabria region, the Italian politician and candidate, Roberto Ochiuto, made controversial statements about the presence of Cuban doctors in Italy, in a context of growing criticisms and denunciations for forced labor in these missions.
During An act In the town of Cariati, spread by the Facebook profile La Voce del Popolo, Occhiuto acknowledged that “the Cubans have played an important function,” and defended the “collaboration” with Cuba, ensuring that “the Italians were happy to be treated by the Cubans”, because “the Cuban health system is one of the best in the world.”
The regional president and health commissioner also insisted that doctors receive the same salary as the Italians, deposited in bank accounts open to their name in Italy, presenting it as an autonomy proof of the allegations of labor exploitation after the uncover in June of the investigation of the investigation of Cubanet, “From Havana to Calabria: the perfect scam to Cuban doctors ”.
With the desire to minimize defections, Occhiuto said that only three professionals would have abandoned the mission and fell importance to these exits: “Then they leave, they leave because they fall in love. Therefore, therefore, [los cubanos] They can do whatever they want, ”he said, in open denial to accusations of modern slavery.
The politician’s version contrasts with independent data. According to Cubanet, At least 14 doctors have already escaped from the Calabria-Cuba agreement: some joined private health, others emigrated to Spain, and several more stopped transferring to the Marketer of Cuban Medical Services, a company that controls them in Italian territory and forces them to transfer part of their salary by orders of Havana. The latter, despite Cuban pressures to force them to give up their contract with Calabria, continue working in the same hospitals and living in the same houses.
Although the actual figure of defections is unknown, some point out that it may be close to the third of the 372 Cuban doctors who accounts for the official discourse. Pasquale Tridico, a center -left candidate for the presidency of the Calabria region, recently revealed that 30% of Cuban doctors had “fled” due to ineffective incentives, reported the local medium Calabria 7.
Tridico pointed to the discrepancy between what they really receive as a salary (1,200 euros) and the total cost for local health authorities for their services (about 8,000 euros that include social positions, accommodation and food) and described the Italian-Cuba agreement of “Falling Experience” despite its “good intentions”.
Ochiuto himself alluded to the international impact of his decisions, remembering that he was criticized “for all” when he signed the agreement with Cuba, while filling the headlines of the Official Gazette of the Cuban Communist Party: “Then it happens that someone from central-right like me, president of the Council, appears on the first page of the page of the Granmawhich is the official newspaper of Cuba (…) before they criticized me because they said they were slaves, and I told them: look, they receive the same salary as Italian doctors, ”he said.
In an electoral context loaded with tensions, the question of Cuban doctors has been taking strength and has become a political battlefield that exceeds the borders of Calabria and feeds a national and international debate on the limits between medical cooperation and labor exploitation. The politicians Domenico Tallini and Ernesto Aleci have demanded greater transparency in the management of Occhiuto regarding the agreement with Cuban doctors, while parliamentarian Anna Laura Orrico raised a formal request to the Ministries of Health and Labor to clarify the true working conditions of the specialists of the island. In parallel, Ochiuto himself resigned from the presidency of the region in the midst of an investigation for alleged corruption, immediately announcing his intention to re -election.
According to the investigation of Cubanet, Cuban doctors sent to Calabria are subject to a double contractual framework: one signed with the local health authority (ASP) and another with the Cuban state company CSMC, which in practice prevails and contains clauses that limit fundamental rights such as labor autonomy, freedom of association and confidentiality. In addition, only 22 % of the gross base salary established by the agreement really reaches doctors, while up to 71 % of overtime is retained by the CSMC, in a scheme that, according to internal documents analyzed, reinforces the complaints of labor exploitation and state control even in European territory.
