Miami, FL – Recently, Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar hosted a press conference to denounce Mexico’s use of Cuban Doctors in violation of human rights clauses within the United States Mexico Canada (USMCA) trade agreement.
She was joined in Miami at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora by two elected officials from Mexico’s own government, Deputy Mariana Gómez del Campo and Senator José Alfredo Botello Montes to criticize their government’s inhumane use of medical personnel from Cuba.
If Mexico continues to use trafficked Cuban doctors, they are jeopardizing their participation in the USMCA and putting Mexico’s economy at risk. Some highlights from the event: “Cuba is making a lot of money,” stated Rep. Salazar. “Doctors are being swindled, exploited, and trafficked. Mexico is getting cheap labor. The Mexican government is exploiting Cuba’s most valuable good, their human capital. They are funding the Cuban dictatorship and ignoring international conventions, human, and labor rights. The Mexican President recently expressed that conservatives who have a problem with using Cuban doctors can go to hell. And my answer to President Lopez Obrador is that he will be the only one who is going to hell for siding with evil forces and being an accomplice to human misery.” “We stand in solidarity with the exiled Cuban community and all of those who have had to abandon their countries because of a totalitarian regime that oppresses them, that keeps them in inhumane conditions and involve themselves in human trafficking,” said Deputy Mariana Gómez del Campo. “We are not tired of lifting our voices, we are not tired of sending letters, documentation, whatever is necessary so that all of Mexico knows what is happening with these so-called health brigades, who in the end do everything except deal with health issues. We cannot permit, I insist, that we keep fomenting in this manner modern slavery, human trafficking, and keeping silent; we will be here as many times as necessary to lift our voices.” “We are against, as of now, these missions, principally for the issues that are implicated of not having respect to the dignity of a person, and not respecting Cuban Doctors,” remarked Senator José Alfredo Botello Montes. You can find a video recording of the event here. Background: In April, Representative Salazar led a letter to the Department of Labor's Office of Trade and Labor Affairs calling for an investigation into violations of the USMCA by Mexico due to their use of foreign medical personnel from Cuba. The historic USMCA Trade Agreement is the gold standard among trade deals and has strong provisions to uphold labor standards and human rights. The United States government has officially recognized Cuba’s international medical missions as grave human rights abuses and a form of modern-day slavery. The U.S. State Department included the Cuba medical missions in their recent “2021 Trafficking in Persons Report”. Mexico is in violation of USMCA's labor standards since Chapter 23 explicitly prohibits signatories from engaging in “forced labor and human trafficking.” Mexico is engaging in international human trafficking by using Cuban doctors that are forced to go on medical missions. Cuban doctors have their wages stolen by the regime, are forced to sign contracts against their will, and their families are in danger of reprisal if they do not comply. The profits from these medical missions go back to the Cuban regime and are used to further oppress the Cuban people.
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