US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an interview after assembly with Russian officers, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025.
Photograph by EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP through Getty Pictures
Bahamian officers stated on Friday that they’re ready for the US to approve the brand new fee system for Cuban Medical Brigade staff after submitting the brand new preparations to Washington.
Bahamas Minister of Well being Mike Darville stated the US had requested to see the brand new contracts and these had been submitted just lately.
If and when authorized, the well being ministry would rent the small contingent of Cuban medics straight slightly than by a state middleman company that had taken the vast majority of the employees’ month-to-month salaries and remitted a small quantity to them. This technique has been in place for many years for nearly the entire Caribbean nations that host Cuban medics.
Leaked paperwork printed earlier this yr seem to indicate that the contracted staff earned lower than 15 % of their full salaries, with the rest going to a Cuban state company to earn precious overseas trade for the cash-strapped nation. The sum proffered confirmed that the employees earned round $12,000 month-to-month however, in impact, had carried dwelling solely $1,200, with the remainder snapped up by the Cuban authorities.
Darville instructed reporters that high-level talks with the Trump administration on the problem had been fruitful. Senior administration officers, together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had described the present fee system as a type of pressured labor and human trafficking, as Washington had threatened to cancel the visas of Caribbean authorities officers and different officers administering or linked to this system.
The US’s discomfort with the prevailing preparations initially pushed Antigua, the Bahamas, and Guyana to sign their willingness to right away change the system to direct and full fee to the Cubans. It’s unclear whether or not some other CARICOM member state has finished so, however practically all of the governments have instructed the US, with reservations, that the Cubans are a key a part of their well being sectors and haven’t any plans to ditch this system. He stated authorities are awaiting approval from the US.
“If that comes again favorable, lots of the Cuban professionals who’re right here will go right into a direct contractual settlement with the Ministry of Well being and never the Cuban authorities itself. It’s our duty to work very carefully with our companions, the US, to make clear any misconceptions in regards to the improper use of labor. I may say this a lot, and I’m certain the ministry of overseas affairs would say the identical factor, we don’t contemplate ourselves to be in violation with any labor legal guidelines.”
From all appearances, the brand new system will probably win approval from Washington as American Chargé d’Affaires Kimberly Furnish had just lately praised the efforts of native officers to treatment the scenario, saying that “we’re very pleased with the Bahamian efforts to make that so, and we see success in that effort. All individuals should have their salaries given on to them with out the federal government intervening. So, we’ve labored very carefully with the Bahamian authorities to make sure that if there are Cuban nationals working right here, that they’re being paid straight and handled humanely.”
