The prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) mentioned his authorities has supplied proof to the US that Cuban well being staff within the nation should not victims of human trafficking, because the Trump administration takes intention on the medical missions.
Talking upfront of US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s go to to the Caribbean on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves mentioned he was assured that the knowledge he supplied would settle US issues in regards to the deal underneath which Cuban medical professionals work in SVG.
Rubio, who’s the kid of Cuban immigrants, introduced in February the growth of an current coverage to focus on “pressured labor” and “abusive and coercive labor practices”, which he claimed have been a part of Cuba’s abroad medical missions.
However Caribbean leaders have persistently rejected the claims of human trafficking and burdened the necessary position the Cuban medical professionals play in saving lives within the area.
Gonsalves mentioned he had supplied US officers with proof that there was “no human trafficking right here, no pressured labour, none of that”.
“We’ve trendy labour legal guidelines, we comply with all of the worldwide conventions when Cubans come right here. They do glorious work, they usually have their very own financial institution accounts and are compensated comparably to nationals. They’ve a number of advantages, together with paid holidays. You may enter this system freely and depart this system,” he mentioned.
Since its 1959 revolution, Cuba has been sending medics to each developed and creating nations all over the world, together with Italy, Brazil, and nations within the Caribbean and West Africa. Its medical doctors and nurses have been instrumental in tackling outbreaks equivalent to Covid-19 and Ebola.
However underneath the expanded US coverage, “present or former Cuban authorities officers, and different people, together with international authorities officers, who’re believed to be accountable for, or concerned in, the Cuban labor export program” and their rapid household will probably be subjected to visa restrictions.
Cuba’s ambassador to the SVG, Carlos Ernesto Rodríguez Etcheverry, earlier this month described the announcement as a “shameful resolution”, saying that it has no authorized foundation and can deprive thousands and thousands of individuals all over the world of medical providers.
“We actually reject the concept … that Cuban medical doctors, Cuban nurses are slaves and that the Cuban authorities is concerned in any trafficking concern with regard to our medical brigades. As a result of we respect our medical doctors, our nurses,” he instructed native media.
Describing the concept that Caribbean nations are concerned in trafficking as “propaganda”, Gonsalves mentioned that Cuban medical doctors function non-public practices in SVG whereas they’re employed by the federal government, and a few apply for everlasting residency within the nation. “It’s very clear that there isn’t any kind of concern round trafficking as advised,” he mentioned.
Barbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, at present chair of the Caricom group of Caribbean nations, instructed parliament that though Barbados doesn’t at present have Cuban medical employees, “we couldn’t get by the [Covid] pandemic with out the Cuban nurses and the Cuban medical doctors”.
She added: “I may also be the primary to inform you that we paid them the identical factor that we pay Bajans, and that the notion, as was peddled not simply by this authorities within the US, however the earlier authorities, that we have been concerned in human trafficking by participating with the Cuban nurses was absolutely repudiated and rejected by us.”
Mottley mentioned that “like others on this area”, she is ready to lose her US visa if “we can not attain a smart settlement on this matter”.
Caricom met on Friday, 21 March, to debate Rubio’s go to amongst different issues, Gonsalves mentioned. Throughout his go to to Jamaica, Rubio will maintain bilateral conferences with officers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados, earlier than going to Guyana and Suriname. Gonsalves mentioned that he was certain the difficulty of Cuban medical doctors could be raised by Caribbean governments.
A press release from Trinidad and Tobago saying the assembly with Rubio mentioned discussions would “deal with US international coverage and the impact on Trinidad and Tobago and the broader area”, however didn’t specify whether or not the difficulty of Cuban medical doctors was on the agenda.
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