A Cuban doctor says that he should attend to a minimum of 35 daily patients in Bolivia, although most were fictitious.
Miami, United States. – A testimony referred to the NGO Archive Cuba and whose authorship has been protected for security reasons reveals systematic practices of corruption, labor exploitation and simulation within the Cuban medical mission in Bolivia. The story coincides with previous complaints from other members of these brigades and information published by Bolivian media.
The doctor, who worked for years at the “El Alto” ophthalmological center, described a network of political control and statistical manipulation in favor of the Cuban regime. Upon arriving in Bolivia, they barely descended from the plane, state security agents withdrew their passport. “They prohibited us from having emotional or friendly links with nationals, visiting their homes or doing anything without approval,” he said.
The author points out that he had to attend to a minimum of 35 daily patients, although most were fictitious: “Patients had to be invented to justify all Cubans who appeared as part of the missions and had nothing to do with medicine.”
The high positions of the mission – coordinators, officials of the Communist Party of Cuba, family members and even lovers – lived in luxurious mansions and were “doctors” or “technicians” without being. “They had private chefs, custodians, drivers, laundry services, maintenance, keys of keys, advisors, domestic, secretaries and support staff: they were all Cubans and served as doctors.”
He also denounced the manipulation of medical statistics to obtain greater payments from the Bolivian government. “Eye operations were done without the need to ‘buy statistics’, that is, to get the payment to Bolivia. (…) Many times they put the nursing personnel to break syringes (…) to say that they were being used with the patients. It was thrown away from analgesics (…) to say that it was giving the patients.”
The doctor revealed that for each collaborator the Bolivian state paid about $ 4,000 per month, but professionals were given only 670. Of that amount, 100 dollars were discounted for rent and basic services, although these were already covered by the Bolivian government. “They must have been stealing the bosses of the mission,” he said.
He also pointed out that the then Cuban ambassador to Bolivia, Benigno Pérez Fernández, sent large boxes to the island under the category of “diplomatic suitcase”, while doctors could barely transport 40 pounds of luggage. “The pilots and aeromozas laughed a lot from us (…) while the elite could send as much as I wanted,” he said.
The witness also reported that, sometimes, they passed up to five months without receiving salary. “Thank God that some businesses (not related to the Government of Evo), allowed us to get food without paying until we had money. Thanks to them, we could survive.”
Another of the names mentioned is that of the Mission Chief, Pavel Noa, together with Elizabeth Leiva and the then OPS/WHO representative in Bolivia, Fernando Leanes, who – according to the doctor – was aware of all the abuses. “I knew everything, I knew perfectly what we lived (…). I knew we were subjected to all kinds of controls and arbitrariness, such as slaves.”
The doctor, who was “regulated” in Cuba after his return – that is, prevented from leaving the country – finally managed to emigrate by other means. He says he did not desert in Bolivia because he did not want to lose the right to visit his relatives, as punishes the Cuban regime to whom they leave the missions. “In Bolivia many Cubans abandoned the mission. Ironically, many were the same bosses – the very revolutionary, shameless.”
