Occhiuto says that “Cuban doctors in Calabria are completely free”, but ‘Cubanet’ proved otherwise.
Miami, United States. – The president of the Calabria region, Roberto Ochiuto, has defended the sanitary cooperation agreement that has allowed the presence of, until now, 372 Cuban doctors in that region of southern Italy. “Cuban doctors in Calabria are completely free, [y están] perfectly integrated in the communities in which they work; Some have even married, ”said Occhiuto in statements collected by IL SOLE 24 ORE. According to him, those who accuse them of being “slaves” or being “controlled by the regime” say “nonsense.”
However, a recent investigation of Cubanet Signed by the journalist Annarella Grimal and based on direct testimonies, internal documents and official reports, with forceful denies these statements. What in institutional speeches is presented as solidarity cooperation, in practice it constitutes – according to international experts and organizations – an labor exploitation network operated by the Cuban State in the European territory.
An exploitation model with humanistic facade
Italy pays directly to Cuban doctors a gross salary that is around 4,700 euros per month. But Cubanet He documented that, although the money is deposited entirely in the personal accounts of doctors, these are obliged to transfer monthly between 54% and 80% of their income to the Cuban Medical Services Marketing, SA (CSMC), the Cuban state company that manages medical missions.
“Of the 34.50 euros per hour that Italy promised as a base salary, the doctor [entrevistada por CubaNet] He only receives 6.68 – two euros more than a farmer without papers earns in neighboring Foggia, ”he denounced this medium after interviewing several doctors on anonymity.
Occhiuto, who is also a commissioner of Health of the region, and is currently subject to an investigation for corruption, argues otherwise: “They receive about 4,700 euros gross per month in an Italian current account, as well as their Calabresses colleagues, and also have, as an incentive, the accommodation made available to the region.”
However, the documents reviewed by Cubanet They demonstrate the existence of a double contract. One, signed with the Italian authorities, establishes the full salary; The other, written by the CSMC, limits to 1,200 euros per month that the professional can retain. “For us is 1,200 euros. Bank notifications do not lie,” said one of the doctors consulted.
However, this amount also suffers deductions from at least 200 euros per month for half a year, which reduces salary to 1,100 euros as average.
Far from being “free”, as Ochiuto insists, Cuban doctors in Calabria are subject to a control and surveillance regime that reminds more of an intelligence device than to medical cooperation. According to Cubanetprofessionals must ask permission even to leave the city where they are assigned, they cannot join Italian unions or participate in demonstrations. If they wish to marry or establish a romantic relationship, they must report it to the Head of the Cuban Medical Mission in Italy.
“They wanted to report every personal relationship that I established. It is not even so many explanations to my parents. It is crazy,” denounced one of the doctors interviewed.
They are also forced to participate in propaganda campaigns and political activities organized by the Cuban regime in Italy. An internal document cited by Cubanet It details how a group of doctors acts as a “social media inspector” and reports weekly to those who do not interact with the official publications of the mission.
Ochiuto himself, paradoxically, admitted in 2022 that the initial agreement was modified because the original contract “allowed to give all income to doctors” thanks to an “exceptional disposition” of the Cuban authorities. Today he argues that “the facts show that they are free and perfectly integrated people.”
Arbitrary deductions and ghost taxes
One of the most serious aspects documented by Cubanet It is the use of illegal deductions on the salary of doctors. For example, CSMC retains up to 71.5% of extra hours, claiming a 43% non -existent tax according to Italian tax legislation. “The tax rates that Italy applies to extra hours are totally different (…) there is a fixed tax of 15%,” the report clarifies.
Also in December 2024, the state company appropriated more than 80% of the so -called “month 13”, an annual bonus equivalent to a monthly salary. The claim of several doctors was ignored. In an audio obtained by Cubanetthe provincial coordinator of Crotone, Iván Martínez Rivera, initially recognized his disagreement, but ended up retracting after a video call with senior Cuban officials.
The control system is reinforced by direct threats. Doctors who do not comply with salary transfers are qualified as “problems” or “with ideological deviations.” If they decide not to return to Cuba at the end of the contract, they face legal sanctions, including the prohibition of entry to the country for eight years and the loss of the right to exercise their profession.
“It’s out of necessity, they don’t give you another choice,” said Dr. Campos. “To have to inform where I am going, who I go with, who I laugh … goes beyond a labor bond: it is a link like a master and slave.”
The newspaper IL SOLE 24 OREin its coverage of the subject, he pointed out that there have already been defections from Cuban doctors, some of whom have chosen to work in private clinics or have abandoned the country. “Some doctors ended completely outside the radar,” the newspaper reported. He also indicated that the case has reached the Italian Parliament through deputy Anna Laura Orrico, who asked the regional president “Great of the work activity of Cuban doctors.”
Even members of Occhiuto’s same political spectrum have expressed doubts. Mimmo Tallini, from the Calabrés center, questioned “the wages, dignity and protections of Cuban workers.”
Occhiuto’s statements are not only refuted by direct testimonies of Cuban doctors and internal documents of the CSMC, but also by the analysis of IL SOLE 24 OREthat reveals a panorama of leaks, control and job precariousness. The official discourse that insists on the “freedom” and the “integration” of these professionals contrasts with a reality of salary expropriation, coercion and systematic violation of human rights.
This was summarized by one of the doctors interviewed by Cubanet: “I feel slave,” he said, and admitted not having the courage to free himself for fear of not being able to see his family anymore. “It is impossible to embrace freedom when you don’t know it,” he said.
The legal criteria: “A form of modern slavery”
In conversation with Cubanet, The director of the Cubalex Legal Information Center, Laritza Diversent, said that what Cuban doctors face in international missions – including Italy – fits fully into the definition of modern slavery according to the agreements of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and international law.
“Forced labor and modern slavery are defined, among other things, by the extreme vulnerability of the person,” Diversent explained. “And every person living in Cuba today is in a vulnerability situation, thus being graduated from the university.”
The lawyer emphasizes: “When you threaten someone with her salary, to return it to a place where she has worse conditions, there you are abusing and using your power.” And he adds: “You implement a whole system where the threat is to return it to a place where there are 72 hours of blackout, where people have no food, where they have no money to access food or medicines … that is to take advantage of you.”
Diversent, who has interviewed numerous doctors who have participated in missions in different regions of the world, points out that control over workers is systematic: “After 6:00 in the afternoon, [en algunos de los países donde cumplen misión] They have as a kind of curfew. That curfew is not written, but from the Medical Mission Operations Center they call the houses where they are staying and make a list pass. ”
The sanctions, he states, include from “a public warning in front of their peers” to the deduction of 10% of the salary. In addition, the doctors must report their movements and, in some cases, they are forced to betray colleagues who have defected. “If that is not control and lack of freedom, I don’t know what it will be,” said the lawyer.
For Diversent, it is particularly serious that doctors be forced to carry out activities outside their profession, such as “talking about the work that does the medical mission” or participating in propaganda acts. This, he warns, has a political impact: “Medical missions influence the electorate (…). If they are taking them to rural regions where other doctors do not want to go, that already influences the vote. Therefore, it is a political benefit for those who are in power.”
Diversent concludes: “They do not share their salary voluntarily, they do it because they are in a condition of poverty. That is the basis of slavery. It is a form of modern slavery. You have to read the ILO agreements on forced labor to understand that what the Cuban doctor lives in these missions is not cooperation, it is exploitation.”
“They [los médicos cubanos] They are the last link in the chain, “says the lawyer.” The only solution is for them to go out and talk [denuncien]. Unfortunately they are under the threat that they return them to Cuba and process them – their reality is cross -border repression – but all they can do is keep talking to the independent press. ”
“If this man [Roberto Occhiuto] He insists on denying reality, doctors must continue giving data and testimonies that end this exploitation, ”says the expert.
