It is important that we have a text like
this that provides relevant information about Cuban medical missions, the role
of countries that collaborate with the Castro-communist dictatorship in the
exploitation of Cuban doctors and human trafficking. It is also necessary,
according to the promoters of the resolution, to reactivate the Program Cuban
Medical Professionals Parole. At the end the information is completed with an
article that is the "official" response of the communist Castro
regime to this resolution.
DAV19034
S.L.C.
116TH
CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. ll
Affirming
that the Government of Cuba’s foreign medical missions constitute human
trafficking.
IN
THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
llllllllll
Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on llllllllll
RESOLUTION
Affirming that the Government of Cuba’s foreign medical missions constitute
human trafficking.
Whereas, in
2015, the Government of Cuba maintained more than 50,000 Cuban doctors and
medical personnel in foreign medical missions in 67 countries under conditions
that represent forced labor;
Whereas the Department of States’ 2018
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report noted that Cuban authorities coerced some
participants to remain in the foreign medical missions, including by—
(1) ‘‘withholding their
passports [and] restricting their movement’’;
(2) ‘‘using ‘minders’ to
monitor participants outside of work’’;
(3) ‘‘threatening to
revoke their medical licenses’’;
(4) ‘‘retaliat[ing] against their family
members in Cuba if participants leave the program’’; or
(5) ‘‘impos[ing] exile if participants didn’t
return to Cuba as directed by government supervisors’’;
Whereas,
between 2013 and 2018, more than 20,000 Cuban medical professionals served in
Brazil and had their salaries garnished, movement restricted, and family visits
limited by the Government of Cuba;
Whereas
investigative reporting by the digital platform Diario de Cuba, through an
access to information request, revealed that Brazilian diplomatic cables
detailed the terms of the Government of Cuba’s medical missions to Brazil;
Whereas, in
early 2012, the Government of Cuba proposed to the Government of Brazil the
establishment of a program to send Cuban doctors to geographic regions of
Brazil that had an insufficient number of medical personnel;
Whereas,
during subsequent negotiations, the administration of former Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff proposed an agreement between the two governments to
be implemented through coordination with the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) in order to avoid oversight by the National Congress of Brazil;
Whereas the
Government of Cuba stated that implementing the agreement through the United
States headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization would present risks
for potential violations of United States sanctions;
Whereas, in
July 2013, the Government of Cuba, acting through the for-profit Cuban Medical
Services Trading Corporation (Comercializadora de Servicios Medıcos Cubanos,
Sociedad Anonima, or CMS, signed an agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of
Health to formalize a commercial arrangement for Cuban doctors to provide
medical services in Brazil;
Whereas the
agreement between the Government of Cuba and the Government of Brazil established—
(1) that the
administration of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff would pay the Pan
American Health Organization a monthly fee, which would then pay the for-profit
Cuban Medical Services Trading Corporation (CMS) for the medical services provided
by each Cuban doctor serving in Brazil;
(2) that the for-profit Cuban Medical Services
Trading Corporation (CMS) would pay each Cuban doctor approximately 25 percent
of the monthly payment received from the Pan American Health Organization;
(3) that the Government of
Cuba, acting through the for-profit Cuban Medical Services Trading Corporation
(CMS), would retain approximately 75 percent of the monthly payment received
from the Pan American Health Organization; and
(4) restrictions preventing participating
Cuban doctors from seeking employment in Brazil outside of the formal structure
of the program; Whereas, in July 2013, the Government of Brazil announced the
creation of the Mais Medıcos program, which included the participation of Cuban
doctors and doctors of other nationalities;
Whereas the for-profit Cuban Medical Services
Trading Corporation (CMS) commenced contracting Cuban doctors for the Mais Medıcos
program, and the first Cuban medical professionals arrived in Brazil in August
2013;
Whereas Cuban doctors were the only medical
professionals participating in the Mais Medıcos program to have their salaries directly
garnished by their government, and doctors of other nationalities serving in
Brazil received the full amount of their salary;
Whereas Cuban doctors participating in the
Mais Medıcos program faced severe limitations on their ability to travel inside
Brazil and a prohibition on travel to neighboring countries;
Whereas
Cuban doctors participating in the Mais Medicos program were prohibited from
having their families accompany them while stationed in Brazil;
Whereas the
Cuban doctors frequently had their passports taken by Government of Cuba
officials present in Brazil in order to limit their ability to travel;
Whereas the
Department of State’s 2018 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report documented how
the Government of Cuba also confiscated Cuban doctors’ passports in other
countries, and stated that ‘‘the Cuban government acknowledges that it
withholds passports of overseas medical personnel in Venezuela’’;
Whereas the
Pan American Health Organization’s external auditor, the Spanish Court of
Audit—
(1) stated in its January
2018 report that 198 Cuban doctors have presented 159 legal challenges in the
Brazilian court system since the start of the program in July 2013 demanding
extra free time in their contracts and equal working conditions as doctors of
other nationalities participating in the Mais Medıcos program; and
(2) stated in its April
2014 report, in recognition of the legal risks associated with the Mais Medıcos
program, that it would be ‘‘prudent that PAHO set a contingency plan to face
possible negative statements of [the] lawsuits’’;
Whereas the
Government of Cuba has stated that Cuban doctors unwilling to return to the
country after their participation in foreign medical missions will not be
permitted to return to their homeland for eight years;
Whereas the
Government of Cuba directly profits from exporting the services of Cuban professionals,
having earned more than $8,000,000,000 from their work in 2016, of which
foreign medical missions represent the majority of the income; and
Whereas the
term ‘‘severe forms of trafficking in persons’’ is defined under section
103(9)(B) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C.
7102(9)(B)) as ‘‘the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or
obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud,
or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage,
debt bondage, or slavery’’: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
That it is the sense of the Senate that—
(1)
the
Government of Cuba subjected Cuban doctors and medical professional
participating in the Mais Medıcos
program to state-sponsored human trafficking;
(2) Cuban doctors
participating in the Mais Medıcos program should have been permitted to work under the same conditions as all other
foreign doctors participating in the program;
(3) the Government of Cuba
should compensate Cuban doctors that participated in the Mais Medıcos programs for the full amount of wages that
were garnished by the Government of
Cuba;
(4) foreign governments that
sign agreements with the Government of Cuba or the for profit Cuban Medical Services Trading Corporation
(CMS) or other companies affiliated with the Government of Cuba to procure the
services of Cuban professionals directly
assume risks related to participation in forced labor arrangements;
(5) the Pan American Health
Organization must immediately provide greater transparency about its participation in the Mais Medıcos
program and its agreement with the Government of Cuba and the for-profit Cuban
Medical Services Trading Corporation (CMS);
(6) the United States
Department of State must downgrade Cuba to Tier in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
report, given new evidence on Cuba’s foreign medical missions and the Government
of Cuba’s longstanding failure to criminalize most forms of forced labor; and
(7) the Department of State
must reestablish the Cuban Medical Professionals Parole (CMPP) program.
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