A Cuban doctor identified as Yilbert López Cuba posted on Facebook two images that reflect the reality of thousands of healthcare professionals leaving the island: in the first, he is seen wearing a white uniform and two blue stethoscopes in a clinical setting; in the second, wearing a cap, t-shirt, and red apron, he takes a selfie at a fruit stand in a Mexican market.
"I exchanged my doctor's coat for an apron, the clinic for a market... but with this change, I have the satisfaction of being able to help my family and fulfill my child's wishes... THANK YOU, MEXICO...!!" wrote Yilbert in his post.
Behind that decision lies a harsh arithmetic: Cuba set the basic salary for a newly graduated doctor at 7,045 Cuban pesos per month in July 2026, an amount that at the informal exchange rate is equivalent to just between 14 and 16 dollars.
A second-degree specialist does not earn much more: 8,880 Cuban pesos per month, according to the Official Gazette. In contrast, the salaries of Cuban doctors in Mexico can reach up to 1,700 dollars per month, even in informal jobs.
Yilbert's case is not an exception. The pattern repeats with variations: Cuban doctors working at Walmart or Amazon in the United States, as waiters or cleaning houses in Spain, or in construction and markets in Mexico, all while they wait to validate their degrees or simply because informal income far exceeds what the Cuban healthcare system could offer them.
In Mexico, the process of validating degrees with the General Directorate of Accreditation, Incorporation, and Validation of the Secretary of Public Education can take years and requires documentation legalized by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, leaving professionals in a prolonged employment limbo.
A couple of Cuban doctors in Mexico, Lauren Lago and Ramiro, went through four different jobs before reinventing themselves as fitness trainers.
Others, according to a report from March 2025, were hired in Chiapas for fumigation at 2,300 pesos biweekly, without benefits.
In May of this year, around 300 Cuban doctors were trapped in a migratory limbo in Mexico, unable to practice their profession or regularize their situation.
The emigration of Cuban healthcare professionals is the result of decades of a system that trains doctors on a large scale while paying them subsistence wages.
Before the July adjustment, the basic salary of a recent graduate was just 5,060 Cuban pesos, according to the salary records of the Cuban healthcare sector. The increase did not alter the fundamental equation.
Yilbert López summarizes it without any apparent bitterness: he exchanged the clinic for a stall selling bananas, pineapples, kiwis, and oranges, and with that, he can fulfill his son's wishes.
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