Ecuador shuts down Cuban medical program
The government of Ecuador announced Tuesday that it will suspend the hiring of about 400 Cuban doctors, in another blow to a controversial program through which the island’s government sells medical services to foreign countries.
“These agreements will no longer be renewed, they will be terminated, and that will open 400 vacancies” for Ecuadorean doctors, said Ecuador’s Minister of Government María Paula Romo at a press conference.
Romo said the government was also investigating the entry into Ecuador of 250 people with official Cuban passports during the violent protests that broke out after the elimination of a gasoline subsidy in early October.
“We are working with the embassy of Cuba to find out what use was given to these types of passports,” said Romo. “In most cases, this is related to Cuban doctors who are in the country under this type of agreement.”
The agreement between Ecuador and Cuba dates from 2013, when leftist president and Cuban ally Rafael Correa sought help to expand his social programs.
The export of medical services is a lucrative business that brought Cuba about $6 billion last year.
But the Cuban medical missions suffered a severe blow when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro demanded that Havana give its doctors in Brazil the full payment the country was making to Cuba for them. At the time there were more than 8,300 Cuban doctors in Brazil. In response, the Cuban government, which keeps the large majority of the money paid for its doctors abroad, suspended its participation in the Mais Medicos program in November of last year.
In Ecuador, after Lenín Moreno took office and moved away from the “socialism of the 21st century” of his predecessor, relations with Havana have soured. His government first reduced the number of Cuban doctors hired, and finally joined Brazil in ending the medical program entirely.
Some doctors who have abandoned such missions have denounced them as examples of modern “slavery.”
The U.S. has launched a diplomatic campaign to persuade other governments not to hire Cuban doctors under the conditions imposed by the island’s government. The State Department has also revoked or denied visas to Cuban government officials involved in those missions.
According to doctors who worked in Brazil and Venezuela, the Cuban government keeps about 75 percent of the salaries paid by those countries. In a lawsuit against the Pan American Health Organization, which acted as an intermediary for the program in Brazil, Cuban doctors also described harassment and the withholding of their passports.
The Ecuadorean case seems to be similar.
“Cuba pays us between $700 and $800 of the $2,641 it receives from Ecuador,” said a doctor currently working in that country who asked not be identified for fear of reprisal. The doctor said Cuban doctors don’t have to pay housing while in Ecuador and can keep their state salaries paid in Cuban pesos.
“We know that it is not ideal, but at least it is more than what we earn” in Cuba, the doctor said.
Cuban doctors working in Ecuador have been sent to remote regions and asked to do political work.
“Several people have to share the same house. It was hard to travel to Cuba, and sometimes vacations were delayed,” said a doctor who defected and now lives in West Palm Beach. She asked not to be identified for fear of not being allowed to visit her family in Cuba.
“The bosses forced us to send messages of support to the revolution and President Correa on social networks,” she said.
The political crisis in Bolivia, following the resignation of President Evo Morales, also raises doubts about the future of the Cuban medical mission in that country. Nearly 700 Cuban doctors in Bolivia are in curfew in their homes and waiting for orders from Havana.
“We stay informed, we have taken all security measures to protect our homes, everyone has food and resources to stay in the country,” Yoandra Muro, head of the mission in Bolivia, told official Cuban media. “In addition, we remain in constant communication, receiving information from our country.”
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This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 10:07 AM.