MADRID, Spain. – The Cuban regime rejected its inclusion in the Trafficking in Persons report issued by the U.S. Department of State.
During a high-level meeting at the General Assembly about the evaluation of the United Nations Global Action Plan to fight the Trafficking in Persons, Cuba’s Minister of Justice, Oscar Silvera Martínez, called unacceptable that “without any basis whatsoever, the United States accuses Cuba of fomenting trafficking in persons, or the practice of slavery.”
Cuba’s inclusion “aims to denigrate the praiseworthy labor of hundreds of thousands of Cuban professional and technical medical personnel, who throughout decades and a deep vocation of solidarity and humanism, have given their volunteer services to assist the people of dozens of countries,” Silvera Martínez alleged.
However, the Cuban minister mentioned that “in Cuba, trafficking in persons is a rare occurrence.”
“A policy of zero tolerance has been implemented in the country, based on the pillars of prevention, confrontation and protection of victims,” the minister added in his virtual intervention.
The report again includes Cuba on grounds that it is not fully compliant with the minimum standards for eliminating the crime of trafficking.
“During the period covered by the report, Cuba exhibited an official policy or a governing pattern to the benefit of the State from programs where workers are exported under likely forced-labor conditions, particularly in its program of medical missions abroad,” the document states.
Cuban doctors are strictly watched once on medical mission. In addition, 75% of salaries paid by the serviced countries goes straight into the Cuban government coffers, according to reports by Cuban Prisoners Defenders (CPD).
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