The Cuban Medical Brigade in front of the Mixco Eye Hospital in Guatemala (Source: El Comunista.net, 2016).
As part of its mission to defend fundamental rights and strengthen the rule of law, the Global Liberty Alliance (GLA) is committed to uncovering trafficking in persons in the Western Hemisphere and holding modern-day slave traders to account. After the trade in illegal drugs, human trafficking is one of the most profitable criminal activities in the world today. This gross violation of fundamental rights takes place on every continent, and the victims include men, women, and children from every walk of life imaginable.
Just 90 miles from the United States, socialist Cuba, assisted by various Caribbean, South American, and Central American nations, has propped up an international network trafficking in persons that routinely violates the fundamental rights of Cuban medical workers. In September 2020, GLA, working with local counsel, discovered the first group of documents related to human trafficking in medical professionals in Guatemala.
The Guatemala files – preliminary records obtained that are linked at the bottom of this page – show some of Guatemala’s business arrangements with Cuba over the years since 1998, when they reestablished relations. The records include a request of information from the government and several contracts between Guatemala and Cuba.
GLA has met with medical professionals who formerly served on the Cuban missions and will continue to coordinate with professionals as this matter progresses in Guatemala’s legal system. This could result in measures such as litigation against public and private parties or economic sanctions. The GLA supports efforts to expose trafficking practices and hold to account those responsible – in the public or private sectors – for engaging in unlawful labor arrangements with Cuba, or those who engaged in other unlawful activities under Guatemalan and U.S. laws. If you have information about Cuban medical mission in Guatemala or anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, please contact us.
Just 90 miles from the United States, socialist Cuba, assisted by various Caribbean, South American, and Central American nations, has propped up an international network trafficking in persons that routinely violates the fundamental rights of Cuban medical workers. In September 2020, GLA, working with local counsel, discovered the first group of documents related to human trafficking in medical professionals in Guatemala.
The Guatemala files – preliminary records obtained that are linked at the bottom of this page – show some of Guatemala’s business arrangements with Cuba over the years since 1998, when they reestablished relations. The records include a request of information from the government and several contracts between Guatemala and Cuba.
GLA has met with medical professionals who formerly served on the Cuban missions and will continue to coordinate with professionals as this matter progresses in Guatemala’s legal system. This could result in measures such as litigation against public and private parties or economic sanctions. The GLA supports efforts to expose trafficking practices and hold to account those responsible – in the public or private sectors – for engaging in unlawful labor arrangements with Cuba, or those who engaged in other unlawful activities under Guatemalan and U.S. laws. If you have information about Cuban medical mission in Guatemala or anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, please contact us.
General Background on Cuba's Medical Missions
Brief Overview of Cuban Health Internationalism
According to the Cuban government, Cuba has sent more than 400,000 healthcare workers to 164 countries since the 1960s. As of March 2020, over 28,000 Cuban healthcare workers (including 18,000 doctors) were in 59 countries. Between March and June 2020, over 3,000 healthcare workers were sent to 30 countries for COVID-19.
While a noble undertaking to help others in need, the Communist Party of Cuba has, in many respects, weaponized the practice of medicine for political and economic purposes and they have done so on the backs of Cuban medical professionals whose labor rights are routinely violated. In fact since 2005, Cuban missions have become one of Cuba’s largest source of income.
For example, remittances to Cuba from the United States are estimated to be somewhere between $4 to $8 billion (in U.S. currency) a year. In 2018 alone, social and health-related services allegedly generated $6.4 billion for Cuba - that is three times the income that Cuba generates from tourism.
Contract Stipulations and Payments
Cuban state-sponsored entities contract with foreign governments so that the Cuban health workers go to that country for 2-3 years, with the understanding that the program can include teaching and the sale of medicine through Cuban state-owned enterprises.
The Cuban healthcare workers are not allowed to work outside of their contract, and receive only 5-25% of their compensation, depending on the country. Most of the Cuban workers' compensation is allegedly saved in a Cuban bank account and they are granted access only upon completing the mission and returning to Cuba.
Host countries cover the housing accommodations and provide the workers stipends in local currency. Sometimes, host countries pay more to Cuban healthcare workers than they would pay their own local workers. The logistical requirements of the program lead to additional expenses that make hiring Cuban healthcare workers more expensive.
Some countries have a sufficient pool of medical professionals to meet local public health need; however, they opt to contract for Cuban medical workers for political and economic reasons.
Medical Training and Qualifications
The Cubans do not need to have their medical training or degrees validated in the host countries. Patients are typically very poor, do not have insurance, and will rarely, if every complain to local officials about problems with care. Keep in mind that participation in the Cuban international medical brigade program is only open to the vanguard of the Communist Party. The candidates are each selected on a wide range of criteria that include a candidates's social record that has been carefully compiled since birth and the family's socioeconomic background. Anyone who harbors views that go against the socialist revolution is not selected to participate in the international program and, likely, would not even be allowed to study medicine at the university.
Working Conditions
While serving in a medical brigade, Cuban health workers are subject to arbitrary restrictions, including checking in at a set time to a brigade leader. The brigade leader is usually not a health professional, but rather a intelligence official who works for the Cuba's secret police, the Ministry of the Interior.
The Cuban medical professionals are under constant vigilance by minders, to whom they must surrender their passports before or upon arrival at the host nation. Cuban medical workers must follow the guidelines of the brigade program or face disciplinary action that includes fines, loss of income, or political and other retributions targeting family members who remain on the island.
In some nations, Cuban medical workers are posted in some of the worst, crime-ridden neighborhoods without adequate personal protection. Cuban workers must leave their families in Cuba, and if they abandon the mission or do not return to Cuba afterward, they are prohibited from reentering Cuba for 8 years.
Finally, Cuban officials and defenders of the program in the United States argue medical professionals who participate in the missions sign agreements and are not forced to participate. While Cuban medical workers sign agreements with Cuban entities that set the terms of engagement, based on materials the Alliance has reviewed the agreements amount to contracts of adhesion or a "take it or leave it" arrangement that, at times, is signed under duress.
Results of Cuban Medical Missions
The much-publicized Cuban brigade arrivals at international airports are misleading, designed for propaganda. When it comes to hard facts about the public health successes of the brigade program, the reported results of these missions are unreliable, as the Cuban workers are ordered to alter any unfavorable statistics.
Benefits for Cuba
The medical missions have many benefits for Cuba, aside from the obvious monetary ones. The missions buy political loyalty through political influencing of host government politicians and businesses; they legitimize the Cuban socialist system with propaganda campaigns in host nations; they help prop up a constellation of state-owned enterprises such as BioCubaFarma, MEDICUBA, S.A., EMSUME, S.A., and EMCOMED, S.A.,; they help the Communist Party secure foreign assistance in the form of loans and investments; they offer opportunities to gather intelligence and insights into host governments and populations; and they leverage political and ideological agenda from allied governments.
(Data based on research conducted by Cuba Archive and other sources. See Cuba Salud for more information.)
According to the Cuban government, Cuba has sent more than 400,000 healthcare workers to 164 countries since the 1960s. As of March 2020, over 28,000 Cuban healthcare workers (including 18,000 doctors) were in 59 countries. Between March and June 2020, over 3,000 healthcare workers were sent to 30 countries for COVID-19.
While a noble undertaking to help others in need, the Communist Party of Cuba has, in many respects, weaponized the practice of medicine for political and economic purposes and they have done so on the backs of Cuban medical professionals whose labor rights are routinely violated. In fact since 2005, Cuban missions have become one of Cuba’s largest source of income.
For example, remittances to Cuba from the United States are estimated to be somewhere between $4 to $8 billion (in U.S. currency) a year. In 2018 alone, social and health-related services allegedly generated $6.4 billion for Cuba - that is three times the income that Cuba generates from tourism.
Contract Stipulations and Payments
Cuban state-sponsored entities contract with foreign governments so that the Cuban health workers go to that country for 2-3 years, with the understanding that the program can include teaching and the sale of medicine through Cuban state-owned enterprises.
The Cuban healthcare workers are not allowed to work outside of their contract, and receive only 5-25% of their compensation, depending on the country. Most of the Cuban workers' compensation is allegedly saved in a Cuban bank account and they are granted access only upon completing the mission and returning to Cuba.
Host countries cover the housing accommodations and provide the workers stipends in local currency. Sometimes, host countries pay more to Cuban healthcare workers than they would pay their own local workers. The logistical requirements of the program lead to additional expenses that make hiring Cuban healthcare workers more expensive.
Some countries have a sufficient pool of medical professionals to meet local public health need; however, they opt to contract for Cuban medical workers for political and economic reasons.
Medical Training and Qualifications
The Cubans do not need to have their medical training or degrees validated in the host countries. Patients are typically very poor, do not have insurance, and will rarely, if every complain to local officials about problems with care. Keep in mind that participation in the Cuban international medical brigade program is only open to the vanguard of the Communist Party. The candidates are each selected on a wide range of criteria that include a candidates's social record that has been carefully compiled since birth and the family's socioeconomic background. Anyone who harbors views that go against the socialist revolution is not selected to participate in the international program and, likely, would not even be allowed to study medicine at the university.
Working Conditions
While serving in a medical brigade, Cuban health workers are subject to arbitrary restrictions, including checking in at a set time to a brigade leader. The brigade leader is usually not a health professional, but rather a intelligence official who works for the Cuba's secret police, the Ministry of the Interior.
The Cuban medical professionals are under constant vigilance by minders, to whom they must surrender their passports before or upon arrival at the host nation. Cuban medical workers must follow the guidelines of the brigade program or face disciplinary action that includes fines, loss of income, or political and other retributions targeting family members who remain on the island.
In some nations, Cuban medical workers are posted in some of the worst, crime-ridden neighborhoods without adequate personal protection. Cuban workers must leave their families in Cuba, and if they abandon the mission or do not return to Cuba afterward, they are prohibited from reentering Cuba for 8 years.
Finally, Cuban officials and defenders of the program in the United States argue medical professionals who participate in the missions sign agreements and are not forced to participate. While Cuban medical workers sign agreements with Cuban entities that set the terms of engagement, based on materials the Alliance has reviewed the agreements amount to contracts of adhesion or a "take it or leave it" arrangement that, at times, is signed under duress.
Results of Cuban Medical Missions
The much-publicized Cuban brigade arrivals at international airports are misleading, designed for propaganda. When it comes to hard facts about the public health successes of the brigade program, the reported results of these missions are unreliable, as the Cuban workers are ordered to alter any unfavorable statistics.
Benefits for Cuba
The medical missions have many benefits for Cuba, aside from the obvious monetary ones. The missions buy political loyalty through political influencing of host government politicians and businesses; they legitimize the Cuban socialist system with propaganda campaigns in host nations; they help prop up a constellation of state-owned enterprises such as BioCubaFarma, MEDICUBA, S.A., EMSUME, S.A., and EMCOMED, S.A.,; they help the Communist Party secure foreign assistance in the form of loans and investments; they offer opportunities to gather intelligence and insights into host governments and populations; and they leverage political and ideological agenda from allied governments.
(Data based on research conducted by Cuba Archive and other sources. See Cuba Salud for more information.)
Background on Cuba's Medical Mission in Guatemala
This information is coming soon!
Global Liberty Alliance Legal Measures in Guatemala
Global Liberty Alliance (GLA) counsel in Guatemala requested access to public records about Cuban medical brigades. The results of those requests are below.
More requests are outstanding, and updates will follow shortly.
More requests are outstanding, and updates will follow shortly.
Guatemala CUBAN MEDICAL MISSION DOCUMENTS
In the next few days, more documents related to the contracting of Cuban medical professionals in Guatemala will be posted below. Some of these documents have not been publicly available before.
- 1998 Cooperation Agreement between Guatemala and Cuba on Development
- Government Documents ranging from 2002 to 2019 regarding the Contracting of Cuban Medical Brigades: Subsidiary Cooperation Agreement (2012), Cooperation Agreement (2002) and Ratification (2003), Letter of Understanding for Cooperation Program for Eye Services (2007) and Ratification (2008), Letters regarding the 2018 Renegotiation of Renewed 2012 Subsidiary Cooperation Agreement
- Appeal for Protection from Guatemalan Human Rights Court on Behalf of Cuban Doctors (2020)
- Responses to Appeal for Information about Guatemalan Budget and Visas for Cuban Doctors (10/2020)
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