Nursing Association: No impression Cuban medics being exploited in Trinidad and Tobago

LOCAL nurses have never got the impression that Cuban medical workers have been exploited or even trafficked says TT National Nursing Association (TTNNA) president Idi Stuart.

"We cannot speak to what information the US government may have. We are not discrediting the information they may have, but from our standpoint, from what we witnessed having worked with Cuban doctors and nurses, forced labour is far from what we experienced.

"When we work alongside them, we work in a spirit of camaraderie, mutual respect, they are very loving of their country, they speak highly of their country, they attend social gatherings regularly, they interact with us.

"We don't see any signs of forced labour. So we can't dismiss what the US government is saying, but from our standpoint, what we know to be forced labour when we research it, we don't see those things."

He said all of the medical workers freely return to Cuba after their customary three-year stint is completed.

"And they actually look forward to returning to their country!"

He said that was partly owing to TT's crime levels, something they were not accustomed to in their homeland.

Stuart said Cuban doctors and nurses were filling an "overwhelmingly growing void" in the local healthcare system. He said the void existed because the country was not producing enough nurses to fill vacancies within the expanding healthcare infrastructure and those who were leaving for work in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom.

"So we would be placed at a further disadvantage to provide quality healthcare."

US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced on February 25 the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets "forced labour" linked to the Cuban labour export programme. In it, he threatened to revoke the visas of government officials whose countries are recipients of Cuba's medical missions.

"This policy also applies to the immediate family of such persons. The Department has already taken steps to impose visa restrictions on several individuals, including Venezuelans, under this expanded policy."

Rubio accused Cuba of continuing to profit from the forced labour of its workers "and the regime’s abusive and coercive labour practices are well documented."

This is the latest policy by president Donald Trump's administration to toughen its stance against Cuba since taking office in January. It came less than a month after Rubio approved the re-creation of the Cuba Restricted List, which prohibits certain transactions with companies under the control of, or acting for or on behalf of, the Cuban military, intelligence, or security services or personnel.