Tuesday, April 22, 2025
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
CUBAN medical professionals in The Bahamas may have received as little as eight to 16 percent of what the government paid for their services, according to purported contracts and agreements published by a US-based human rights group — reviving scrutiny of an arrangement Bahamian officials had recently defended.
The documents, leaked by the Free Society Project (Cuba Archive), suggest that while The Bahamas agreed in 2023 to pay thousands of dollars per month for each Cuban health worker, the professionals received monthly stipends ranging from $990 to $1,200. The rest — between 84 and 92 percent — appears to have gone to Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, SA (CSMC), the Cuban state agency that manages overseas deployments.
Health Minister Dr Michael Darville questioned the authenticity of parts of the documents yesterday, saying the figures appear skewed to suggest workers receive only a small fraction of what is paid. He said he plans to compare the leaked documents with the agreements he signed to determine their accuracy.
Cuba Archive described the arrangement as “a heavily controlled system” that strips Cuban workers of their rights — a view that has led the US to threaten travel restrictions against foreign officials complicit in such programmes.
The US State Department has used Cuba Archive’s research in past assessments of the medical programme’s labour conditions, according to the New York Times. Maria Werlau, executive director of Cuba Archive, was named a 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero by the State Department for her work exposing human rights abuses in Cuba’s overseas medical brigades.
US Embassy Charge D’Affaires Kimberly Furnish said yesterday: “Our goal is to work with governments to promptly end the coercive and exploitative conditions Cuba subjects its workers to and the conditions of forced labour in many of Cuba’s medical missions. If we see real movement and progress at ending abuses, we will delay visa restrictions, but absent a real effort to change, we will impose them.”
Under International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, workers must be paid directly and fully control their wages. The Cuba Archive report argues that The Bahamas’ contracts with Cuban professionals violate these principles, pointing to clauses that limit freedom of movement, restrict employment options, and force financial deductions under threat of repatriation.
The agreements prohibit workers from negotiating directly with the Bahamian government or accepting other employment. They are not hired directly by the Public Hospitals Authority or the Ministry of Health. Instead, The Bahamas pays CSMC, which then allocates a stipend to the workers for food and personal expenses.
One leaked document is a contract purportedly signed in Havana in 2023 between CSMC and The Bahamas’ Ministry of Health and Wellness, represented by Dr Dar- ville. The agreement was also purportedly signed by CSMC First Vice President Beatriz Aroha Fraga and Business Vice President Dr Victor Ernesto Felipe Tamayo. It establishes the framework for deploying Cuban professionals in epidemiology, data management, and computer support to The Bahamas.
A detailed annex lists the monthly fees The Bahamas pays per professional: $12,000 for each medical advisor, $5,000 for a computer science engineer, and $5,000 for a health information specialist. However, the workers receive monthly allowances of only $1,200 or $990, depending on their role. Overtime is permitted but split equally between the worker and CSMC.
The second document is the individual contract Cuban professionals must sign with CSMC. It requires workers to remit half of their overtime pay to the agency, forbids them from taking on other work, and outlines strict rules around conduct and discipline. These include restrictions on marriage without prior approval, requirements to reimburse expenses if they abandon their mission, and a two-year post-employment confidentiality clause. Relatives or friends of Cuban medical professionals are not permitted to stay in the residence provided to the worker. Workers must also return to Cuba if they violate the terms of the agreement.
Dr Darville defended the medical missions programme as transparent and rejected the idea that Cuban professionals are being exploited. He said The Bahamas currently employs three Cuban nurses and three doctors –– two of whom are ophthalmologists and one an optometrist. Other professionals include X-ray technicians, physiotherapists, and biomedical specialists. He said the country’s only aim is to maintain and support the national healthcare system.
He also said discussions between the Bahamian and US governments on the matter are ongoing and being led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis previously acknowledged that part of Cuban workers’ salaries goes to a Cuban agency. While defending the practice as part of a longstanding cooperation model, he said the government would review the arrangement to ensure it aligns with international labour standards.
He likened the arrangement to The Bahamas’ contract work system from the mid-20th century.
“We would have to review what that meant today,” he said in March.
Last month, Ms Furnish said the inquiry into Cuba’s medical programme was part of a global review and not specific to The Bahamas.
Yesterday, she said while the United States has no objection to countries hiring Cuban medical professionals if workers are treated fairly and paid directly, “for many recipient countries, there are strong indicators of forced labour and other coercive elements in the programme.”
“We’re pleased that our action has prompted meaningful discussion of this exploitative labour export programme,” she said. “There are plenty of ethical ways to recruit medical workers, including Cuban medical professionals, to countries facing shortages.”
She said alternative options exist for countries like The Bahamas: one example is Prodie Santé, an international organisation that recruits independent Cuban health professionals and offers what US officials call a more ethical, transparent, and cost-effective model.
“Corrective action to stamp out forced labour is precisely what our visa restriction policy is meant to bring about,” she said. “We will not stop raising these issues until the Cuban regime curtails the forced labour of its own citizens in its labour export programme.”
Comments
Observer says...
Where is CSMC based?
Posted 22 April 2025, 11:01 a.m. Suggest removal
moncurcool says...
So is this agency saying that these people are being paid upwards of $10,000 a month each? Are the Bahamians working in the system being paid that amount?
Posted 22 April 2025, 11:17 a.m. Suggest removal
quavaduff says...
Great questions
Posted 22 April 2025, 2:43 p.m. Suggest removal
ExposedU2C says...
The situation here is much worse than the human trafficking that both the U.S. Government and now the U.N. Human Rights Council/Commission have accused the corrupt Davis led PLP government of participating in with the equally corrupt Cuban Socialist Regime.
The leaked documents, which apparently have since been verified, show that the highly corrupt Davis led PLP government has been knowingly participating in outright cruel, evil, and criminal cross-border slave trade activities that exploit some of the most vulnerable humans on our planet.
Yup, the ruling political elite in our country are only concerned about what they can take from people and not what they can do for people, and for them the lining of their pockets always justifies whatever cruelty they choose to inflict on humanity.
THE HEADS OF DAVIS, DARVILLE, MITCHELL AND COOPER ALL NEED TO BE PUT ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK AND MADE TO ROLL OFF IT FOR WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE TO BOTH LOCALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY SHAME AND DISGRACE OUR NATION AND ITS PEOPLE.
AND TO THINK THE ANCESTORS OF MANY BAHAMIANS WERE THE VICTIMS OF HORRIFICALLY CRUEL AND EVIL ACTS COMMITTED DURING THE SLAVERY ERA.
I NOW KNOW WHY OUR RULING POLITICAL ELITE ARE SO EASILY ABLE TO TREAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF BAHAMIANS AS IF THEY ARE MODERN DAY SLAVES AND WHY OUR NATION'S FOX HILL PRISON REMAINS REGARDED BY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS AS ONE OF THE MOST CRUEL AND INHUMANE PLACES IN THE WORLD.
Dr. Sands needs to tell the Bahamian people pronto if he had knowledge of what has been going on here with the Cuban medical personnel in our country. I strongly suspect Tyrant Minnis was well aware of these slave trade activities involving foreign nationals during his tenure as PM.
Pintard will be seriously comprised if Dr. Sands fails to come clean on what he knew about this most ghastly arrangement with the Cuban Socialist Regime.
Posted 22 April 2025, 11:56 a.m. Suggest removal
bahamianson says...
Wow, now the truth comes out. This was truly a no-brainer. The PM said, the government pays an agency and the agency does whatever. Man , listen. Anyone can see the writing on the wall . A layman could have listened to the PM and assumed he was playing dumb. Come on, man!! This is slave labour. Everyone criticized The Republican Party about their observation. Slave labour, that is what it is, plain and simple.
Posted 22 April 2025, 12:30 p.m. Suggest removal
bogart says...
THANK YOU TRIBUNE.!
Horrible story of bare essentials stripped away to reveal the evil communists manipulating, and taking peoples sweat to run communist empire, to continue to engage in evil acts of modern day slavery.
No government should be involved in taking away peoples money like this. They without morals ought not to continue to remain in power.
Modern day slavers must not continue to thrive.
Posted 22 April 2025, 1:54 p.m. Suggest removal
TalRussell says...
**Comrades, what will the T-Shirt colours be?** -- for The Colony's leading "Shirley Street Bladder (STB)" is viewed as tasked with keeping the government in check -- (STB) overtaking the role normally played by His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. -- Yes?
Posted 22 April 2025, 2:09 p.m. Suggest removal
Sickened says...
And Darville's hair brained answer. Saying we will look at the agreements to compare. Dumb as. Should have stuck to the PM's line that we pay the agency. Bam end of story. What the doctors agree to get from that agency is none of our business. Now it is clear from Darville that we knew the workers were getting shafted.
Posted 22 April 2025, 2:18 p.m. Suggest removal
quavaduff says...
Who says "you get what you pay for"? Seems the "middleman" is getting 84% of what the Bahamian government is paying for these medical services.
Posted 22 April 2025, 2:46 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
This story doesn't pass the smell test. The situation cannot be labeled as "slave labour" if the Cubans willingly agreed to the deal !
More needs to be revealed before taking sides.
Posted 22 April 2025, 3:23 p.m. Suggest removal
jamesg30 says...
So true. Because these Cuban Nationals have so many other good options to pursue in their own country. Why would they "agree" to work here for such dismal pay. I don't know, why don't you ask your Haitian if they are happy with their pay and tell them to go get another job if they don't like it. Oh yah, you are their sponsor. They can't.
Posted 22 April 2025, 3:38 p.m. Suggest removal
birdiestrachan says...
The Cubans are within their rights not to accept. All jobs .that they feal takes away their rights. Or the money they work for. They can tell the Bahamas no thanks.
Posted 22 April 2025, 4:33 p.m. Suggest removal
bahamianson says...
The Doctors cannot and have to get what their government agreed upon. Think about it for a sec. They make the same as their counterparts in Cuba. It is a communist country so all Doctors make the same. The Bahamian /Cuban Doctors cannot defect because their families are in Cuba and will face repercussions if they defect and try to stay in the Bahamas or go to the states. It is not clear cut as one would imagine.
Posted 22 April 2025, 7:20 p.m. Suggest removal
birdiestrachan says...
The USA state department can employee the Cubans that would be a step in the right direction and then they will have no complaints about the Bahamas
Posted 22 April 2025, 5:33 p.m. Suggest removal
Porcupine says...
So, I wonder why nobody has asked why the US is so concerned with what Cuba and The Bahamas do, when it is a fact that the #1 reason for bankruptcy in the US is crippling medical costs. And, how many Americans die each year from inadequate and unaffordable health care?
Why are we unable to see the hypocrisy here?
And, I wonder what country has helped keep Cuba in the condition it is in by sanctioning anyone who does business there?
Not too long ago, sane and educated people agreed that collective punishment is wrong. We all did. What has so happened to our minds that all we can say is "Communism Bad" when the most prosperous nation to the north of us has all of these social ills, suicides, school shootings.....?
Why is the US still punishing Cubans when the vast majority of them were not even alive when Castro led the revolution.
Some commenters here are simply brainwashed.
Posted 22 April 2025, 6:43 p.m. Suggest removal
TalRussell says...
It's as in the prophecy of Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg said cuz: -- ""Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None). -- WE right now are your Homies' so first for you to have some WE have to have plenty. That's how these rewards work so please as is in the practice of church tithing --- be sure to donate generously to the party because the rewards you give will be returned to you at some later time to be determined - hopefully -- after the votes are counted. -- Remember to brung your own personal sharpened pencil to the Polling Station so as to mark your X as coached. -- "Can WE get lots of Amens'? -- Yes?
Posted 22 April 2025, 8:43 p.m. Suggest removal
Baha10 says...
Busted … yet again by the US (our Guardian Neigbour) … now as a Black Nation engaging in the Modern Day Slave Trade … how awful and embarrassing … and we are supposed to believe no one knew or benefitted financially 🥶
Posted 22 April 2025, 9:41 p.m. Suggest removal
mandela says...
Stop lying, be honest, for once!/
Posted 22 April 2025, 10:02 p.m. Suggest removal
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