After being called ungrateful, exiled Cuban doctor erupts: “I don’t bite the hand that fed me, but the one that robbed me.”

Cuban-Spanish doctor Lucio Enríquez Nodarse responded with strong words to the recent propaganda campaign from the regime that labels the Cuban doctors who have emigrated and denounce the shortcomings of the healthcare system as “traitors” and “ungrateful.”

In a post on his Facebook profile, Enríquez Nodarse, a critical voice of the regime, dismantled the official narrative and, above all, defended his right to speak freely, something that many doctors on the island cannot afford because they are silenced, prevented from traveling, monitored, and threatened for having different opinions.

The message appears just a few hours after the state-run TV Santiago, echoing the narrative of the Public Health Union, published a text titled “You don't spit on the plate that fed you”, which accuses emigrated doctors of disloyalty and ingratitude towards Cuban medicine.

Doctor Enríquez Nodarse's statement emerges as a direct response to that attack, and it has gone viral on social media for its clarity, strength, and testimonial value.

“MINSAP accuses me of ‘spitting on the plate that fed me’. No. I do not spit on the plate… I spit on the dirty hand that served it,” he wrote, launching a direct attack on the regime and its perverse machinery of leaders.

In his message, the doctor emphasizes that his criticism is not directed at the medical school or its professors, many of whom he describes as "silent martyrs of the system, poorly paid, monitored, and punished for thinking differently."

He says he holds them in eternal respect. His criticism —and his denunciation— is against the dictatorship that has hijacked medicine and turned doctors into propaganda tools, as well as slaves who fill the regime’s coffers with their work abroad.

The doctor questions the official narrative that presents medical training as an act of dignity.

It points out that many universities were inherited from the Republic, that there were teachers exiled for refusing to indoctrinate, students threatened for not marching, and regulated professionals to prevent them from leaving the country.

It also mentions the medical missions, where the Cuban state takes 80% of the salary and forces doctors to engage in politics, while exposing them to precarious conditions and silencing their voices.

"The Cuban state sells doctors as merchandise. It uses them, exposes them, silences them, and when they die abroad, their families don't even know how or where," he denounced.

And he adds, bluntly: “They should also include this in their propaganda: ‘We save lives... but we lose souls.’”

Enríquez Nodarse dismantles the concept of the "moral beacon" that the regime boasts about.

It ensures that this light illuminates only the palaces of power, while leaving hospitals in the shadows, lacking water, medication, and basic supplies.

And he concludes: “Yes, I was trained in Cuba. And precisely for that reason, I know what lies behind the facade. The true betrayal is not to expose the misery, but to keep silent while the people are dying waiting for a turn or an antibiotic.”

With his testimony, the doctor reaffirms that speaking out is not betrayal, but rather a defense of the truth.

"I do not bite the hand that fed me, I bite the one that stole my food, my freedom, and my voice. And I will do that until the end."

Frequently Asked Questions about the Situation of Exiled Cuban Doctors and the Healthcare System in Cuba