Cuban Doctors Are Enslaved Says ‘The Wall Street Journal’

Cuban Doctors Are Enslaved Says 'The Wall Street Journal' / 14ymedio
Posted on November 11, 2014

14ymedio, Havana, 10 November 2014 — In an article published Sunday, the
Wall Street Journal lashes out against the "doctor diplomacy" carried
out by the Island by sending health personnel abroad. The newspaper
compares the system with the "slave trade" in spite of international praise.

Columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady, however, asserts that the doctors who
travel to poor countries "are not a gift from Cuba," since the Island
earns some 8 billion dollars annually at the expense of the workers
through the payments it receives from the host country – as in the case
of Venezuela – or other countries who send funds to the World Health
Organization. O'Grady reminds readers that the medical personnel do not
receive their remuneration directly and that this money goes to the
coffers of the state which only dedicates a small part to the salaries.

"It is the perfect crime: By sending its subjects abroad to help poor
people, the regime gains from the global community the image of a
disinterested contributor even though it exploits the workers and
enriches itself at their expense," writes the columnist. "This is a
great business which, if were not carried out by Marxists gangsters,
surely would offend journalists. Instead, they swallow it."

O'Grady insists that "human trafficking is nothing new for Havana, nor
is it limited to the medical profession." Refusing to participate in a
mission can mean the loss of employment—as Cuban Doctor Antonio Guedes
reported from Madrid to the German international television chain DW—or
have consequences for children's university admission.

In 2008, some workers reported to the United States Justice Department
the hard work conditions and the salary of three cents per hour they
received during a mission to Curacao where they went to work in exchange
for Cuba's debt to Curacao Drydock Company. The relatives of the
claimants, according to the report by the United States newspaper The
Christian Science Monitor, "lost jobs and access to education and
suffered harassment by gangs."

The columnist emphasizes that sending medical personnel abroad is
causing a shortage of doctors in Cuba, in spite of the delicate
epidemiological situation the Island is experiencing, affected by
outbreaks of dengue fever and cholera.

Translated by MLK

Source: Cuban Doctors Are Enslaved Says 'The Wall Street Journal' /
14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-doctors-are-enslaved-says-the-wall-street-journal-14ymedio/