The US has revoked visas and imposed restrictions on former Pan American Well being Group (PAHO) officers, Brazilian authorities officers, and their members of the family for his or her roles in what it calls the “Cuban regime’s coercive labor export scheme” in Brazil’s Mais Médicos program.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned the focused people have been “accountable for or concerned in abetting the Cuban regime’s coercive labor export scheme, which exploits Cuban medical staff by pressured labor.” He mentioned this system “enriches the corrupt Cuban regime and deprives the Cuban folks of important medical care.”
In keeping with the State Division, officers used PAHO as an middleman with the Cuban authorities to implement this system with out following Brazilian constitutional necessities, dodging U.S. sanctions on Cuba, and knowingly paying the regime cash owed to Cuban medical staff. “Dozens of Cuban docs that served in this system have reported being exploited by the Cuban regime as a part of this system,” the division mentioned.
The division named Mozart Julio Tabosa Gross sales and Alberto Kleiman amongst these whose visas have been revoked, saying each people “labored in Brazil’s Ministry of Well being through the Mais Médicos program and performed a job in planning and implementing this system.”
Mozart Julio Tabosa Gross sales is a Brazilian Ministry of Well being official, and Alberto Kleiman labored at PAHO as Director of Exterior Relations till 2022.
Rubio mentioned the transfer “sends an unmistakable message that the USA promotes accountability for many who allow the Cuban regime’s pressured labor export scheme.”
The announcement got here the identical day the State Division imposed visa restrictions on African, Cuban, and Grenadian authorities officers and their households for his or her involvement in related Cuban medical mission applications wherein medical professionals are “rented” by different international locations and many of the income is stored by Cuban authorities.
Rubio didn’t identify the precise African international locations or officers. He, nevertheless, urged governments to “pay the docs straight for his or her companies, not the regime slave masters” and known as on nations that assist democracy and human rights to confront “the Cuban regime’s abuses and stand with the Cuban folks.”
