MIAMI, United States. – This Monday, Cuban-American congresswoman María Elvira Salazar demanded that the United States Department of Labor investigate “possible violations of the labor provisions” of the United States-Mexico-Canada Treaty (USMCA) by the Mexican government.
“By forcibly exporting its doctors, the Cuban regime is sponsoring human trafficking. Our trading partner, Mexico, accepts exploited labor,” wrote Salazar on Instagram.
The demand It also appears signed by the Republican congressmen Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez, as well as by the senator, also a Republican, Marco Rubio.
The letter, which was specifically sent to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Trade and Labor Affairs, calls for an investigation into possible violations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement by Mexico.
“We know the horrors of which the Cuban regime is capable and its calls ‘exchange missions of medical professionals’ they are not an exception,” Salazar points out in the letter. “Slavery still exists, and it is happening across our borders with the approval of the Government of Mexico,” he added.
“Mexico’s acceptance of exploited labor and human trafficking is reprehensible and undermines the integrity of the USMCA. I call for a formal investigation to determine if this violates the human rights provisions of this historic trade agreement,” the congresswoman also wrote.
The signatories of the letter consider that the Government of Mexico is involved in international human trafficking by using Cuban doctors who are forced to carry out medical missions.
“The regime steals Cuban doctors’ salaries, they are forced to sign contracts against their will, and their families are in danger if they don’t comply. The profits from these medical missions return to the Cuban regime and are used to further oppress the Cuban people,” the text details.
The historic USMCA Trade Agreement is the standard used by Mexico, the United States and Canada to respect labor and human rights. Its Chapter 23 asks signatories to hold each other accountable for meeting high labor standards and work to combat “forced labor and human trafficking.”
The US government has officially recognized Cuba’s international medical missions as “serious human rights abuses” in the form of “modern slavery.”
The US State Department included the regime in its recent “2021 Trafficking in Persons Report”.
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