They urge the government of Uruguay to protect the rights of Cuban doctors

Non-governmental organizations from the United States urged the government of Uruguay to protect the rights of Cuban workers who carry out a medical mission in that country.

"We have been preparing these cases in Uruguay for several years and I am optimistic that this government will do what is fair and correct and will properly apply the laws and other regulations to confront criminal activities," he toldCyberCubaDirector of Global Liberty Alliance, Jason Poblete.

Together with Archivo Cuba and with the participation of Outreach Aid to the Americas, a letter was sent to the Uruguayan presidentLuis Lacalle Pou, to remember the violations of the labor rights of doctors and health workers who have been working since 2007 under conditions of questionable transparency and adherence to international conventions.

"We consider that the persistent violation of their rights, in collusion with a dictatorship, is intolerable from both a legal and human perspective," says the document, also sent to the Uruguayan ambassador to the United States,Andrés Durán Hareau.

The letter recalls that in July 2020, complaints were filed with the National Human Rights Institution and the Ombudsman's Office of Uruguay in order to investigate and disclose the hiring records and alleged trafficking of Cuban doctors. Likewise, the issue was presented to the attorney general's office and the presidency.

For his part. This year, Cuba Archive provided Uruguayan diplomats with information on the subject, with details of all the evidence that points to Cuba's clear participation in the trafficking of doctors, with the complicity of Montevideo.

"We urge your government to comply, with due urgency, with all treaties and agreements that protect the rights of Cuban workers, including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Human Trafficking, signed by Uruguay in 2000 and ratified in the 2005," the letter stated.

At the beginning of this month, the Cuban and Uruguayan press reported on the 15 years of work of a team of Cubans (currently there are 22) who work at the "José Martí" Eye Hospital in Montevideo.

"Between 2008 and 2022, seven Cuban medical brigades, some 160 professionals from the island, have passed through Uruguay," says the text published by the newspaper. Bitter Mate.

The complaints about labor exploitation with signs of slavery and forced labor that the Cuban government exercises on the doctors and health personnel that it rents to other countries, have attracted the attention of international organizations, which denounce the situation in various forums and platforms.

María Werlau, executive director of Archivo Cuba, highlighted that lCuban laws do not punish the slave labor of doctors in missions abroad.

"Once a person's labor is exploited by such means, the person's prior consent to work for an employer is legally irrelevant: The employer is a trafficker and the employee a victim of human trafficking," he said. the Cuban resident in the United States through a report that was delivered to the State Department.

In June 2021,The European Parliament condemned the modern slavery practices to which Cuba's medical brigades are subjectedabroad.

The historic resolution, approved by the majority of MEPs, recognized that the Cuban government "imposes on all civil employees abroad who work for the State or for state companies, including medical personnel, unjustified duties and obligations that violate the dignity and the most basic and fundamental human rights".