Criminal Gang Steals $150,000 from Cuban Medical Mission in Venezuela

A complex of buildings in Ciudad Caribia, on the outskirts of Caracas. (Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami | 2 July 2018 — Eight armed and hooded men attacked a group of Cuban doctors stationed in Venezuela in the early hours of Sunday morning and stole more than $152,000 (dollars) and 30,000 pesos, according to statements to 14ymedio from several doctors from the island who work in the medical mission in that country.

The police reports obtained by this newspaper document that the Cuban delegation comprising 126 professionals, of whom 38 had just arrived in Venezuela, was stripped of their belongings in Ciudad Caribia, in the state of Vargas.

Nelson Vielma, a 42-year-old Venezuelan taxi driver, explained to the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) that the thieves broke the doors to the dormitories where the doctors spent the night and forced them to hand over their cell phones and cash they were carrying.

Some doctors reported that their colleagues told them they were beaten during the robbery.

Many of the doctors take advantage of missions abroad to buy products that help their families on the island to cope with the hardships they suffer because of the chronic shortages in the Cuban markets, which are controlled by the State.

“How long is our country is going to leave us unprotected in such a complex and ungrateful place,” protested one of the doctors who works in Venezuela and requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Cuban government.

Another doctor on the mission said that “unfortunately, robberies are already part of the routine in Cuban medical missions in Venezuela,” and asked her colleagues to demand respect and help from the authorities of both countries. The GNB placed two guards in the doctors’ dormitory to prevent future robberies.

“It’s so dangerous living in this sh…y country,” wrote a third doctor, very upset at the lack of protection from the authorities.

Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. A recently released documentary about the consequences of the implementation of Chavism showed that someone is is murdered in that country every 20 minutes. Venezuelan figures under Chavez are terrifying: 280,000 homicides, 15,000 arbitrary detentions, 6,000 extrajudicial executions, more than 280 documented cases of torture in just 20 years, in a country of a little more than 30 million people.

Since the beginning of the century, when Cuba signed an agreement with Venezuela to send doctors, teachers and technicians in exchange for oil, tens of thousands of Cubans have passed through that country. The latest figures given by the office of president Nicolás Maduro stood at 28,000 doctors and health technicians currently present in Venezuela.

The agreements with regards to what Caracas pays for the Cuban professionals are not public, however, the Cuban authorities have said that they receive more than 11.5 billion dollars per year for the sale of these services in dozens of countries.

Several international organizations have denounced these practices in Havana as “slavery” due to the lack of rights which the professionals themselves enjoy. The Cuban government keeps two thirds of their salaries, which has led to a large number of desertions and demands in countries like Brazil as well as Venezuela itself.

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