The Cuban medical mission in Calabria is evaluating an unconventional solution to the blockade of the bank account of Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. (CSMC) in Italy: having the doctors themselves transport cash to Havana when they return to Cuba for vacation.
The possibility was revealed by Italian media Informa Calabria and Calabria7, which explained that the operational account of the CSMC at BPER Bank remains frozen due to the indirect effects of U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
The problem has been ongoing since late July and specifically affects the final part of the payment scheme. Calabria signs contracts directly with Cuban doctors and deposits their salaries into Italian bank accounts in the names of the professionals.
Doctors continue to receive payments normally in their personal accounts. What remains blocked is the subsequent transfer of the fee that must go to the CSMC in Havana.
The authorities of Calabria had already explained that payments are made directly to the professionals, while the subsequent disbursement of part of the salary corresponds to the internal agreement with the Cuban state entity.
According to the reconstruction published by the Italian press, the Calabria Region pays approximately 4,700 euros gross per month for each doctor. From that amount, the professional keeps up to about 1,200 euros of the base salary, in addition to a percentage corresponding to overtime hours, while the rest must be transferred to the CSMC.
With that shipment blocked, among the options being considered by the brigade leaders is that the doctors themselves transport the cash sums physically when they return to the island for vacations or rest periods.
However, there is no evidence that this formula has already begun to be implemented. For now, it is simply a possibility under consideration.
The alternative also raises legal and operational questions. Italian media suggests that moving significant amounts of cash would require compliance with the regulations on cash circulation, anti-money laundering, fund traceability, and customs declarations, especially considering that the mission involves over 200 professionals.
The banking blockade became publicly known at the end of August, when it was revealed that the bank account of the Cuban medical mission had been blocked in Italy.
The hiring model has been criticized for years because a substantial portion of the income generated by doctors abroad ends up in the hands of the Cuban government.
In Calabria, according to information from Italian sources, doctors retain approximately a quarter of the base salary, while the remainder corresponds to the CSMC.
The controversy has also reached European institutions. In September, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights urged the European Union to investigate the medical brigade deployed in Calabria for possible human trafficking practices.
The organization claimed that the recruitment system reproduces mechanisms of wage retention and control reported in other Cuban medical missions.
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