The human rights organization Cuban Prisoners Defenders published a report Tuesday accusing the Mideast emirate of Qatar of funding and benefiting from Cuba’s slave doctor industry — and forcing enslaved health workers to promote Doha’s “political agendas.” Cuban health workers abroad face imprisonment or other legal consequences if they violate restrictive rules prohibiting them from driving without authorization, befriending locals, or leaving their residences during their curfews. Those who attempt to defect face an eight-year ban from entering Cuba, often meaning that defection leaves them unable to be present for their children’s childhoods.
“Their passports are permanently withheld by Cuban authorities, and they are under constant surveillance,” the doctors said. “They are under curfew in their residences and cannot stay overnight in any place other than the one assigned by the Cuban government in Qatar.”
“They are forced to fulfill political agendas and tasks among the native population, so they are used to influence the local politics of the rulers,”
The doctors said that the Castro regime keeps about 90 percent, sometimes up to 94 percent, of the salaries that Qatar offers them as part of their contracts.