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 are usually not victims of human trafficking, because the Trump administration takes intention on the medical missions.
Talking prematurely 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 data he supplied would settle US issues concerning the deal beneath which Cuban medical professionals work in SVG.
Rubio, who’s the kid of Cuban immigrants, introduced in February the enlargement of an present coverage to focus on “pressured labor” and “abusive and coercive labor practices”, which he claimed had been a part of Cuba’s abroad medical missions.
However Caribbean leaders have constantly rejected the claims of human trafficking and careworn the vital function 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 got fashionable labour legal guidelines, we comply with all of the worldwide conventions when Cubans come right here. They do wonderful work, they usually have their very own financial institution accounts and are compensated comparably to nationals. They’ve plenty 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 international locations world wide, together with Italy, Brazil, and international locations within the Caribbean and West Africa. Its docs and nurses have been instrumental in tackling outbreaks reminiscent of Covid-19 and Ebola.
However beneath the expanded US coverage, “present or former Cuban authorities officers, and different people, together with international authorities officers, who’re believed to be chargeable for, or concerned in, the Cuban labor export program” and their rapid household can 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 tens of millions of individuals world wide of medical providers.
“We actually reject the concept … that Cuban docs, Cuban nurses are slaves and that the Cuban authorities is concerned in any trafficking difficulty with regard to our medical brigades. As a result of we respect our docs, our nurses,” he advised native media.
Describing the concept that Caribbean nations are concerned in trafficking as “propaganda”, Gonsalves mentioned that Cuban docs function personal 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 form of difficulty round trafficking as instructed,” he mentioned.
Barbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, at the moment chair of the Caricom group of Caribbean nations, advised parliament that though Barbados doesn’t at the moment have Cuban medical employees, “we couldn’t get via the [Covid] pandemic with out the Cuban nurses and the Cuban docs”.
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 had been concerned in human trafficking by partaking 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’t 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 problem of Cuban docs could be raised by Caribbean governments.
An announcement from Trinidad and Tobago asserting the assembly with Rubio mentioned discussions would “concentrate on US international coverage and the impact on Trinidad and Tobago and the broader area”, however didn’t specify whether or not the problem of Cuban docs was on the agenda.
