Category: Ángel Salinas

The Human Rights Commission Forces Mexico to Re-Accept a Family of Cubans

The Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (COMAR) has received 48,970 applications for refuge in the first four months of the year, of which 3,374 are from Cubans. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 5 May 5, 2023 — The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) on Thursday ordered the National Institute of Migration (INM) to repair the damage caused to a family of four Cubans that it deported in November 2022 “despite having refugee status.” The measure includes “some compensation,” without specifying what it consists of, in addition to “allowing them to enter” Mexico and “to be given the medical and psychological care they require.”

According to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the agents violated the rights of these people by not “verifying their documentation,” detaining them for eight days in a way station in the state of Tabasco and “returning” them to the Island.

As punishment, the officers involved in the arbitrary deportation will only be given “training and education in human rights, focused on legal security, legality and the principle of non-return.”

According to its archives, on December 1 of last year the human rights organization received the complaint of one of the victims. In the letter he details that on November 8 they were arrested at a checkpoint on the road section that goes from La Venta to Villahermosa with the argument that the documents certified by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (COMAR) were not valid. continue reading

Six months after the deportation of the Cuban family and five months after the complaint, the CNDH determined that the Migration agents “did not conduct a thorough interview” nor did they grant the necessary conditions so that the aggrieved people could file the appropriate appeals or trials.

In the interview with COMAR on October 11, one of the deported Cubans said: “Since 2018 it’s been hell for me and my family to be able to live in my country; we suffer constant police harassment.” He said that he was arrested in December of that year, “beaten and threatened with death for claiming my right as a citizen.”

This Cuban specified that on July 12, 2022, his father was intimidated at work by the police and “suffered threats against his life and that of his family.”

According to COMAR’s statistics, in the first four months of the year, 3,374 Cubans have applied for refuge, 333 have been accepted, 607 rejected and 2,434 Island nationals are still waiting for resolution of their cases.

The deportation of this family of Cubans “violated the Migration laws,” migrant defender José Luis Pérez Jiménez told 14ymedio. “During the past year, there were clandestine deportations of Cubans, despite the fact that they have stays granted by district judges or COMAR documentation.”

A month before the arrest of this family, journalist Mario J. Pentón denounced through his social networks that a group of Cubans had been taken with the deception that they would “process their refugee status” at the Mexico City International Airport, where they were put on a plane with the intention of deporting them. But thanks to the evidence, this was avoided.

In April, Ramón Tejera told this newspaper that together with his wife Yairely Andreu and daughter they were deported for not paying Migration agents an extortion of 1,500 dollars at a checkpoint. The family was transferred to the Border Bridge II of Piedras Negras despite having safe-conducts of legal stay for 180 days.

During their arrest, an officer told this Cuban naval engineer: “If you give me 4,000 dollars per person I will take you to the Rio Grande to cross.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

A Cuban Couple, Victims of Mistreatment at a Migration Station in Mexico

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has registered more than 4,000 complaints of human rights violations of migrants in their transit through Mexico. (Captura)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 31 March 2023 — Yamilé, a Cuban woman, was illegally detained for five days at the Acayucan station of the National Institute of Migration (INM), in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and her husband José, for 12 days. “Once they admit you, they take away your papers and your cell phone. It’s hell. There is harassment by the agents, mistreatment, extortion. They sell you a sanitary pad for 25 pesos ($1), toilet paper for 35 pesos,” this habanera tells 14ymedio, adding that they transported the couple to the border with Guatemala.

“Human rights do not exist. A woman with asthma had her medicines withheld until she paid 500 pesos,” she said. They told Yamilé’s husband to continue to Tijuana to be processed by Customs and Border Patrol because the application process was overwhelmed. “Keep going, because if you go back to Tapachula they can put you in jail,” they warned him.

“Those who arrive to help you are coyotes, who tell you that they are lawyers. They asked us for $1,000 each to release us; a group of seven Colombians, $2,700; and a Venezuelan and her daughter, $1,300,” she says.

Yamilé says that the migrants in Acayucan are overcrowded because every day people arrive from Guatemala, Venezuela, some Cubans and Haitians. “There are people who have been there for 25 days and don’t know if they are going to be returned to their country. You are imprisoned like a criminal.” Before leaving the immigration station, they threatened to deport her if she came back. “I’m already registered.”

The editorial staff of 14ymedio has received complaints of Cubans who have been imprisoned in the immigration centers of Acayucan (Veracruz), Siglo XXI (Tapachula) and Las Agujas (Mexico City). Relatives of Luis Ángel Sánchez said that he spent several days in the capital. The agents accused him of having entered illegally, even when he had a safe-conduct pass and humanitarian parole from the United States. continue reading

A law firm contacted Sánchez’s relatives and offered to release him  in exchange for $5,000. After several days, he was released and is now with his family in the United States. Migration stations have made extortion the bargaining chip so that Cubans can move forward on their journey through Mexico.

The human rights violations of migrants in transit through Mexico to the United States have been duly recorded in 4,424 complaints received by the CNDH against the INM between 2020 and 2022, but only 48 recommendations were issued.

“From 2018 to 2023, which corresponds to the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, most of the National Security posts have been militarized, including the migration centers,” said migrant advocate Jose Luis Pérez Jiménez.

In the case of the 39 migrants who died in the fire at the provisional stay center in Ciudad Juárez, attorney Pérez Jiménez says: “Migration was fully responsible not only for the fires in the center, but also for the overcrowding, the systematic violation of the rights of those housed and the torture and mistreatment suffered by migrants at the hands of police officers and immigration agents.”

Migration has become dehumanized, said the migrant ombudsman, and this is because the Government of López Obrador has “militarized” the detention centers for foreigners who enter illegally.

The military is not prepared, and “their treatment of migrants is not the most ideal,” Pérez Jiménez explained. “We see it in Mexico City at the Las Agujas station, controlled by José Luis Valenzuela, a soldier with a bad reputation. Another case took place in Tapachula, which until recently was controlled by General Aristeo Taboada. The captain of the Navy, Jorge Alejandro Palau Hernández, is in Acayican. These are examples of only three migrartion centers, but obviously almost all of them have been militarized by López Obrador.”

Palau Hernández was removed from his position as director of the Siglo XXI immigration station, in Tapachula, after a video was released in which he could be seen beating a migrant. He was transferred to Las Agujas, where several Cubans have been detained, from whom they tried to extort money.

Important for #INAMI to clarify if this information is true

Jorge Alejandro Palau Hernández, who was director of the Siglo 21 Migration Station, in Tapachula, #Chiapas, and was removed from his position after the beating of a #migrant, is now head of the #CDMX immigration station. pic.twitter.com/QaCQFH830S — Eunice Rendón (@EuniceRendon) September 25, 2021

During his usual morning conference this Friday, López Obrador said: “I confess, the issue of the 39 deceased migrants has hurt me a lot, it has hurt me (…) it moved me, it broke my soul.” The Mexican president announced a reform within the INM and the formation of an external council so that the human rights of people in transit are not violated, for which he has the collaboration of Father Alejandro Solalinde.

More than a reform of the INM, Jose Luis Pérez Jiménez says that there is an urgent need for reform to the Migration Law, so that “the accommodation for a migrant is not understood by the INM as a pretrial detention. As long as this is not specified, there will continue to be abuses by migration agents.”

“It is also necessary to repeal Article 111 Part 5 of the Migration Law,” says the lawyer, because currently the agents use it to “pressure migrants to leave the shelters.” When they are released they give them “a resolution that, most of the time, is a permit for them to leave the country in 20 days, not so they can go to the border with the United States, and they don’t tell them that.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

More Cuban Rafters Arrive in Mexico Because of Difficulties Entering the United States

A group of 34 Cuban rafters detained on the high seas awaits a response to their request for asylum. (Semar)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 13 April 2023 — The crew of the Mexican Navy ship Comet notified the captain of Puerto Juárez last Tuesday about a “raft” drifting 90 miles north of Isla Mujeres, one of the illegal landing points for Cubans in recent years, a fisherman told 14ymedio.

According to a statement from the police, 34 Cubans were traveling on the home-made boat, including a woman and 33 men, who were trying to reach Mexico when they were intercepted by two coast guard boats.

The Cubans were treated by naval health personnel, who indicated that they were all in good health. They were transferred to the naval station of Puerto Juárez, where they were handed over to agents of the National Institute of Migration.

A municipal security officer identified as Horacio Márquez, confirmed that the Island’s nationals requested asylum. Migration picked up their identity cards and seven passports. “When applying for asylum, the law allows them to remain in Mexico until the case is resolved.” Article 7 of the Law on Refugees, Complementary Protection and Political Asylum emphasizes that “no sanction will be imposed” for illegal entry.

Márquez specified that this group of Cubans is the first known to arrive in Isla Mujeres this year. “The last week of October 2022, a similar group arrived. On that occasion, 30 rafters, who were linked to coyotes, were detained, but nothing was verified. Most continued on their way to the United States.” continue reading

The Migration Law establishes in article 69, paragraph V, the possibility of “regularizing their situation,” but several Cubans have denounced extortion, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment in Mexican immigration stations.

This arrest of 34 Cubans comes a week after journalist Fátima Vázquez said that at least 15 nationals of the Island had disembarked on San Miguelito beach, located near kilometer 13.5 of Kukulcán Boulevard, the main avenue that connects with the hotel zone of Cancun.

Municipal security officer Horacio Márquez said he did not know of any investigation by the Attorney General’s Office on the routes taken by migrants. “There is nothing out of the ordinary. We see it with this group, which was sighted by sailors on the ship Comet, but not through surveillance.”

Another rescue of rafters was recorded this Thursday. The Norwegian ship Bow Summer provided assistance to seven Cubans whose boat was adrift 100 miles from the Yucatan. “They were without food or drink, about to be swept even further offshore. We took them on board and provided them with dry clothes, food and drink,” said Captain Tor-Gisle Bjerknes.

The arrival of these 49 Cuban rafters in Mexico occurs just when the United States Coast Guard has reiterated that the borders are not open. The agency specified on its social networks that “a strong maritime presence is retained to detect and intercept anyone who tries to migrate illegally by sea.”

This Thursday another group of 28 people were returned to the Island aboard the ship Isaac Mayo. According to official figures, in the last six months the United States has returned more than 2,200 Cubans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

About Twenty Cuban Doctors in Mexico, Rejected for Lacking Professional Credentials

A group of the 610 Cuban doctors who were hired by Mexico to work in marginalized areas. (Twitter/@zoerobledo)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 11 April 2023 — The Cuban specialists who arrived last January in the Mexican state of Morelos and proclaimed their experience in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Pakistan, “are not in position” because they lack a professional identification card. According to the president of the Federated Colleges of Medicine A.C., María Reyna Bárcenas Hurtado, “about 20 health workers” have already been returned to Mexico City.

Bárcenas Hurtado told 14ymedio that during monitoring by the health centers of Axochiapan, Ocuituco, Tetecala and Temixco, it was found that the specialties of the Cuban doctors “do not correspond to what is needed in these hospitals, especially in the Temixco region.”

The last week of March, the leader of the Union of the Ministry of Health, Gil Magadán Salazar, said that the specialists “had no experience” and stressed that “the official Mexican regulation requires doctors to have a professional credential to practice, and they don’t meet the requirement because they don’t have the document from Cuba.”

Magadán Salazar spoke of three cases: “One said he was an anesthesiologist, but he didn’t want to work. We have a dermatologist who has never given a consultation, and the others seem to be gerontologists, areas that we do not require.” That’s why they were enrolled in a training program. continue reading

According to Bárcenas Hurtado, the specialists “were supposed to go to meetings but never showed up.” In addition, he says that it is up to the federal authorities to let them know what is going to happen to these doctors.

Despite the fact that there is a letter signed by the Union of the Ministry of Health of Morelos noting that “they should not be hired” due to a lack of certification, a source confirmed to this media that “no payment has been stopped” to the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A. For each specialist, the Cuban company, which is accused of human trafficking and forced labor, receives $2,042 per doctor each month.

The places that were left vacant, Bárcenas Hurtado explained, should be covered with specialists, but “we are waiting for the response to the letter presented to the state Ministry of Health.”

Meanwhile, in the state of San Luis Potosí, Governor Ricardo Gallardo Cardona confirmed last March, without specifying the number, the arrival of specialists from Cuba. On Monday, the state Ministry of Health and the Mexican Social Security Institute indicated that there are 113 places available, but it has not been defined how many will be filled by foreigners.

The College of the Medical Profession of the State of San Luis Potosí affirmed that Cuban health workers “are not prepared, and before being hired they must be certified by the Medical College.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Mexico Buys Medicines From Cuba for More Than $84 Million

A group of Cuban doctors is received in Mexico, hired by the Government of Andrés Manuel López. (IMSS)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 13 February 2022 — The Government of Mexico announced the purchase in Cuba of medicines for anesthesiology, pulmonology, ophthalmology and cancer treatment. According to the Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer Varela, for the “already consolidated” acquisition, the Island will receive 84,425 dollars as part of the new health agreement that was ratified with Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Campeche.

This agreement also provides for the extension of the hiring of Cuban specialists. The plan, which has not yet been detailed, foresees that another 100 health workers will arrive in Mexico this year, in addition to the more than 641 doctors for which the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador disburses $1,308,922 per month.

The state company Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. is in charge of managing the shipment of doctors. For each specialist, the Cuban Government receives $2,042 per month, while for the services of general practitioners, $1,722 per month enter its coffers. Health professionals are only granted a stipend in Mexico that will be kept by the Cuban Government  during their year of service.

Although there are intentions to continue with the purchase of the Abdala vaccine against covid-19, this has not yet been ratified by Mexico. 14ymedio was able to confirm that, of the 9,000,000 doses already sent to Mexico, less than 3% had been used up to February 7.

About the Cuban specialists who have been distributed in various states, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard proclaimed this Sunday on his social networks that thanks to these professionals “162,000 Mexican lives have been saved.” And so he said goodbye to Díaz-Canel. continue reading

However, one day before the enthusiasm of the Mexican chancellor, the data provided by the Mexican Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer Varela, reveal something else. Cubans had provided 242,000 services as of Friday, of which, he stressed, 110,246 were specialty consultations.

In detailing part of the activities of physicians in Mexico, Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer explained that Cubans have “coordinated laboratory services”; that is, they have taken samples for the performance of 46,191 clinical analyses and performed 41,418 X-rays for radiological studies.

In June 2022, a report by LatinusUS revealed that Cuban doctors who arrived in Mexico during the pandemic limited themselves to “making beds, taking vital signs and conducting surveys, in addition to passing sponges to patients to bathe.” This contrasted with the triumphalism of the Cuban authorities, who even assumed the decrease in mortality caused by the coronavirus in Mexico.

The general director of the Mexican Social Security Institute, Zoé Robledo, explained that Cubans who arrived in Mexico have a specialty in internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, family medicine, ophthalmology, nephrology, intensive care, imaging, cardiology, dermatology and otorhinolaryngology.

Robledo mentioned that doctors are currently in large general and civilian hospitals, as well as in small community health centers “where their arrival often meant the first time there was a  specialist available.”

He mentioned that they are located in the most remote areas such as La Mesa del Nayar, (Nayarit), the Costa Chica (Oaxaca), the desert of Baja California Sur, Cananea (Sonora), Tlaxcala, Colima, Tierra Caliente (Michoacán), in the Huasteca Alta (Veracruz), in Zacatecas, Morelos, Campeche and La Montaña de Guerrero, where 11 specialists arrived just this Sunday to make a total of 29.

On the other hand, there was indignation among Mexican politicians and the media by the delivery to Miguel Díaz-Canel of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, created in 1933 to distinguish foreigners for humanitarian services. This was joined by a group of people who define themselves as “sympathizers of a democratic, liberal and institutional left.”

“There are no ’acceptable left-wing dictatorships’ and ’abhorrent  right-wing dictatorships’,” they said in a public statement, signed  by members of the opposition party Movimiento Ciudadano, including Martha Tagle Martínez, as well as the Party of the Democratic Revolution, Cecilia Soto González, and the academics, Diego Petersen Farah, José Woldenberg, the Cuban academic based in Mexico and Armando Chaguaceda, among others.

“We condemn the president of Mexico for turning a deaf ear to the repression that the citizens of Cuba endure on a daily basis and even for hanging on the chest of the Cuban dictator the highest distinction that a foreigner can receive from our country,” the signatories endorsed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

283,189 Cubans Crossed to the U.S. in 2022, an Average of 775 Per Day

On December 28, 24 Cubans who were taken in a van to the U.S. were arrested. (National Institute of Migration of Mexico)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, January 2, 2023 — Miami is the target of Rolando and his wife Yaimaris. In this region in southeastern Florida they hope to achieve a better future for their seven-year-old daughter, because on the Island “the situation gets worse every day.” This Cuban couple spent 48 hours in a detention center after crossing the border before the end of 2022.

In the last twelve months, 283,189 Cubans have been arrested crossing the border between Mexico and the U.S., on average more than 775  per day. This represents the largest wave of migration from the Island to the United States since the 1990s. In November alone, 35,849 nationals arrived on U.S. soil, according to data from the Customs and Border Protection Office.

Rolando and his family made the journey through Nicaragua, thanks to the support of their relatives who are waiting for them in Miami. “The hardest part was leaving Cuba,” he said. Since November 22, 2021, when Daniel Ortega allowed Cubans to enter without a visa, Managua has become the first stop in the journey of Cubans to reach the United States.

José Luis and Yurisleidys are another Cuban couple who are in Piedras Negras. These Havanans arrived at the border in the Mexican state of Coahuila with two acquaintances and a cousin, who is already in the United States. “My cousin crossed with several others from Nicaragua, but we couldn’t do it because Migration arrived,” the 29-year-old man told 14ymedio.

In order to reach the border, they paid $13,000 to the coyotes. “They abandon you at this point. If you want to be passed into Texas, it’s another $4,000,” said Yurisleidys, who has a sister in Florida. continue reading

The passage of migrants through Mexico is a nightmare. They face extortion from drug trafficking cartels, arbitrary detentions, fake  receipts from immigration stations, repatriations and expulsions. In April, Ramón Tejera complained that for not paying a bribe to Migration agents he was repatriated to the Island along with his wife Yairely Andreu and his daughter.

On December 28, Migration agents in the municipality of Huamantla, in the state of Tlaxcala, detained two vans in which 24 Cubans, two Salvadorans and four Nicaraguans were traveling to the U.S. The detainees were taken to a migration station, where they were given a safe-conduct pass to leave the country within 20 days.

On Monday, in the south of Mexico, 5,000 migrants from various countries, including several Cubans, demonstrated in front of the offices of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar). A group entered by force and demanded a response to their request for free transit.

“We want papers to stay in Mexico legally and continue the journey to the northern border with the United States,” Yanela said. The young woman of Cuban origin said in Tapachula that the facilities had been closed for 15 days and they had to arrive on Sunday night to be taken care of, but no one approached them.

Jordi Armando, another of the Cubans who is waiting for his turn to be assisted, warned that the authorities are causing “disorder and chaos,” so if they don’t take action in the matter “this can get out of control” and end up in a tragedy. Among the group of people there are several Haitians, who he said are the most desperate.

In the face of the protests, Comar officials warned migrants that they will only care for families with children, so the other adults will have to wait their turn in line.

The number of migrants arriving in the U.S. will increase in coming days, said Father Felipe de Jesús Sánchez from Casa Indi, which is located near the Santa María Goretti Parish, in Monterrey. He mentioned to 14ymedio that there are more than 80,000 people from Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, “in shelters” near the border from Tijuana to Matamoros, “waiting to cross to the United States.

On the night of December 12, a caravan with more than 1,000 irregular migrants illegally crossed to El Paso (Texas), according to Fox News journalist Bill Melugin on video. “The city of El Paso reports that the Border Patrol now has more than 5,000 migrants in custody and has released hundreds onto the streets of the city,” he stressed.

The exodus of balseros continues by sea. This Sunday, “more than 160 migrants were found in the Florida Keys,” Border Patrol Officer Walter Slosar reported on his social networks. According to details offered, there were 10 landings recorded “since midnight.”

Slosar explained that in the last 72 hours, the Border Patrol responded to a high volume of arrivals of migrants, so “there is a greater presence of law enforcement and rescue workers in the area” to prevent them from arriving in Florida.

One day before the end of 2022, there was a landing of 88 Cubans, who arrived in Florida on five rafts. Faced with the large number of balseros, the authorities decided to close Dry Tortugas National Park on Monday, in the Florida Keys, to be able to assist and rescue the rafters who are stranded on the islets.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

More than 100 migrants, Mostly Cuban, Were Abandoned in Two Hotels in Mexico

The migrants will be taken on Tuesday night to the U.S. border. (GCE)

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 November 2022 — On Tuesday, the State Civil Guard of Mexico arrested more than 100 migrants, mostly Cubans, who were abandoned by coyotes in two hotels in the municipality of Soledad, in the state of San Luis Potosí.

“The group waited for the evening to continue on its way to the United States,” said one of the guides, speaking to the clerk of a store where they bought water, ham and bread. The business is located a few feet from one of the hotels.

Contacted by 14ymedio, the clerk, who identified himself as Josué, pointed out that, between Saturday night and early Monday morning, several vans “of Cubans” entered the California Hotel. The establishment is located four minutes from federal highway 57, one of the routes used by coyote networks for the smuggling of migrants, according to what Miguel Gallegos, a spokesperson for State Security, said in May.

Josué specified that on Monday, several Central Americans, mostly men who stayed at the España Hotel, descended from a truck normally used for the transport of cattle. “I know because one entered the store and asked me if I accepted quetzales. That’s when I found out that he was from Guatemala and the others came from Honduras and Ecuador,” he clarified.

“I can’t give you exact numbers, but several groups of between 40 to 60 people per day pass through the municipality. Some stay, others are escorted, like the Cubans,” Josué explained. continue reading

The authorities of San Luis Potosí reported to Migration the detention of Cubans and other migrants. (GCE)

Gallegos pointed out that, because of the increase in roadblocks, the polleros (coyotes) began to use alternate roads, and the state administration is trying to cover the “gaps” used by human traffickers for the transfer to the U.S. border.

On Tuesday, the governor of San Luis Potosí, Ricardo Gallardo Carmona, addressed the immigration issue and reported that the authorities “rescued” more than 100 undocumented people, almost all of Cuban origin, but wondered how they managed to get almost half-way on their journey without having been intercepted by any  authority.

From San Luis Potosí, migrants can take the route that brings them to the state of Coahuila and try to cross the Rio Grande through Ciudad Acuña or Piedras Negras. The crossings through Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo are another alternative, but they are controlled by the drug cartels. Several Cubans have told 14ymedio that the Gulf Cartel uses keys and colored bracelets for the passage of migrants, depending on the payment they make for the transfer.

According to the authorities of San Luis Potosí, the National Migration Institute will take care of the corresponding procedures for the repatriation of irregular migrants.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

A Senior Migration Official in Mexico Demands $70,000 from 14 Cubans to Avoid Deportation

In recent months, several Cubans have been arrested during their journey through Campeche. (Captura)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico,30  September 2022 — “You have 72 hours or you’ll be deported.” In this way, an agent of the National Migration Institute threatened a group of 14 Cubans in Mexico City. The alternative is blackmail: “They’re asking for $5,000 for each, $70,000 for the group,” a close friend of the detainees who wants to remain anonymous tells 14ymedio.

The group formed part the 103 Cubans detained in the Mexican state of Campeche, who were forced to remain on a bus without food for 24 hours. A Migration officer recommended to the source interviewed by this newspaper to “get moving” with the money.

In an audio to which this newspaper had access, the telephone warning of the agent, identified as the deputy director of the Las Agujas migration station in the Mexican capital, is heard. “I want to know if they’re going to get their hands on it,” asks the official, who warns that “the amount will be considerable” if the group wants to be freed.

The voice also proposes the alternative of allowing their deportation and then negotiating a new entry. Although, it clarifies, now this was going to “stain their passports.” “It’s going to be a little more complicated, I think,” says the man, who recommends that the Cubans act quickly.

“The group had been divided,” explains the same source. “Some of them were taken to the Escárcega migration station, in Campeche, but others were transported to the prosecutor’s office, after spending more than a day without eating, until they were moved to Cancun, then to Chetumal and now they are in Las Agujas,” he says. continue reading

Those who moved to Cancun offered money to the agents and achieved their release in Chetumal. A minor, Jimmy Jorge Céspedes Sánchez, who presented health problems derived from the asthma he suffered during the retention, and also Yaimet Sánchez Selles, Yaimet Selles Velázquez and Jorge Luis Sánchez Proenza, are part of this group.

It’s not the first time that Cubans have reported abuses by Las Agujas Migration agents.

In the last week of July, Angélica María Rodríguez Varela, Isael Meléndez Castro, Junier Blanco Hernández and two other Cubans were arrested despite having legal protection to pass, during their transfer to the border with the United States.

Rodríguez, Meléndez, Blanco and other nationals of the Island were robbed of the little cash they had. Their passports were taken away, the chips from their mobile phones removed and they were kept incommunicado for several days. The agents demanded the payment of $2,000 from each one to be released and have their documents returned. Thanks to the intervention of an activist, they were allowed to leave and are currently in El Paso, Texas.

The journey of Cubans through Mexico has increased significantly in recent months. In the last 45 days, immigration authorities reported the arrest of 220 people who entered the country illegally.

What they don’t say is that there are hundreds of prisoners in Migration prisons. “That’s a crime,” says the 14ymedio source, who warns Cubans not to rely on money to avoid deportation. “It’s crazy, they want $70,000.”

More than 177,000 Cubans have arrived by land in the United States and more than 5,000 by sea since October 2021.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

A Fisherman Points to Cancun as the Route used by Cuban Coyotes and Rafters

In this fishing boat, several Cubans arrived at Delfines beach in Cancun. (Facebook/Goal Journalism)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 September 2022 — The escape route for Cubans through Cancun, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, has been reactivated. In 15 days, Navy personnel “rescued” 27 rafters and handed them over to the National Institute of Migration for deportation. In the same period, two boats were abandoned in the Caribbean, the last one this Thursday on Defines Beach, a tourist area with close surveillance.

“The Cubans who arrived at Mirador beach were brought by coyotes,” Javier Robles, a fisherman who rents a catamaran to tourists to snorkel, explains to 14ymedio. “It’s an area monitored day and night by tourist and municipal police, and if no one detected a motorboat, there’s no other explanation.”

Robles, who knows the area, was informed by his friends on patrol before five in the morning on Thursday that “by that time the boat was already on the beach,” but it wasn’t until after 7 a.m. that the tourist police showed up. “They arrived, saw and left, and several hours later naval personnel arrived to secure the boat.”

At the place they found some tennis shoes, life jackets, a large empty plastic bag with the “Mary” brand, which migrants normally use to protect something like food or documents, and two drums of fuel. “In Cancun there are many Cubans with legal residence who have set up businesses, so I doubt that these rafters will be found by the authorities,” explains the fisherman. continue reading

Up to the first half of August, local authorities recorded 53 rescues of rafters, and with those reported in the last 15 days, there are already 80. “They’re desperate to leave Cuba; at this point many people are going to start coming here,” says Graviel García, a Cuban originally from Havana who is waiting for a response to his asylum request in Mexico.

Before the pandemic, says García, “there were departures through Pinar del Río”, which is 220 miles from Cancun and 211 miles from Isla Mujeres, two of the points that coyotes use and that are mentioned in the report Mar adentro, migrants and shipwrecked at sea, prepared by the United Nations. “I never contacted the coyote; I do know they charged $7000, a lot for that danger.”

In November 2020, a group of 22 Cuban rafters, including three minors, decided to leave the Island and take the Cancun route. They left for Isla de la Juventud, and their whereabouts were never known, nor were the three boatmen who carried them ever found.

Robles, who has been fishing for 27 years, knows that people can quickly transfer from a fishing boat to a speedboat. “We’re hurried, and if we do it, we’re not going to confess, but there are guys who fish at night, right? Needless to say. Suddenly fishing boats from Cancun appear in Cuba, and no one knows anything.”

At the end of June, the captain of the port in Cancun reported as missing a fishing boat called La Perruna, whose destination was Playa del Carmen. Ten days after the report, the boat and its crew appeared on the Island, as confirmed by Captain Daniel Antonio Maass Michel in a nautical report, 019/2022, but no details were given.

Robles showed another point of arrival for rafters in Quintana Roo: “The mafia is exploiting the route through the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. There’s no surveillance in that area.”

Meanwhile, the sea route most used by Cubans to reach the United States is Florida. On Friday, the Coast Guard returned 163, including three minors, who were trying to illegally reach Florida by sea.

The Cuban Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the migrants were returned through the port of Orozco, in Bahía Honda, Artemisa, last Sunday, “as a result of a group of illegal departures through the maritime border.” Since the beginning of the fiscal year in October 2021 to date, 5,421 rafters have been repatriated.

This Friday, the Coast Guard reported that a raft with five people was intercepted before reaching Key West, and the Border Patrol reported that 15 Cubans were placed in custody after landfall in Islamorada.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Mexican Authorities Rescue 11 Cuban Rafters Who Were Adrift in the Caribbean

The rafters were transferred to Puerto Juárez, where they received medical assistance before being handed over to Migration. (Collage)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 8 September 2022 — On Wednesday, the Mexican Coast Guard intercepted a rustic boat with 11 Cubans on their way to Isla Mujeres, a Mexican beach in the Caribbean Sea that has been identified by the authorities as one of the escape routes in use by the rafters. According to the Navy, the migrants were intercepted 12 nautical miles from the tourist area.

“They made it known that they were adrift and had left Cuba due to the crisis there,” a Navy source who preferred anonymity told 14ymedio. “After being treated by naval health personnel and, later, transferred to the dock of the Advanced Naval Station in Puerto Juárez, it was explained to them that the National Institute of Migration would define their immigration situation.

Javier Robles, who has a catamaran that he rents tourists for snorkeling, told this newspaper that the arrival of Cubans in speedboats has increased since the end of last year.

“It’s a mafia that exploits the route through the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, where surveillance is minimal,” the fisherman explained. “I don’t know the numbers, but I do know it’s in dollars. Those who don’t bring them through the reserve bring them in through Cancun and Playa del Carmen.” continue reading

On August 25, members of the Navy toured Isla Mujeres in search of Cubans who left a raft on the beach. (Semar)

Robles said that for Isla Mujeres, most of the Cubans who enter arrive on rafts. “Less than a week ago the Navy deployed several troops in search of rafters who had arrived on a raft that they abandoned on the beach.”

Last Saturday, a foreign-flag cargo ship requested the support of the Navy to rescue 16 rafters, 13 men and three women, who were adrift 78 nautical miles from Isla Mujeres, according to Noticaribe.

According to the report “Offshore: Migrants and Shipwrecks at Sea,” prepared by the United Nations, there are also other routes for migrant-smuggling in Rosarito, the beaches of Tijuana to San Diego, Puerto Nuevo-Chula Vista and Ensenada-Popotla. There, coyote networks charge between $15,000 and $17,000 for illegal transfers to the United States. These groups recruit fishermen for trips in exchange for $1,000 per person.

The transit of Cubans through Mexico in their attempt to reach the U.S. has increased exponentially. So far in fiscal year 2022, which began in October 2021, the Border Patrol has detained 175,147 Cubans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Through a Traffic Ticket, the Mexican Police Discover a Coyote Taking Seven Cubans to the United States

The group of seven Cubans, one woman and six men, were handed over to Migration. (Captura)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 18 August 2022 — Police from the Mexican municipality of Monterrey arrested a coyote on Wednesday, who had charged seven Cubans 21,000 pesos ($1,050) to take them in a van to the state of Coahuila, from where they planned to cross the Rio Grande to reach El Paso, Texas.

The smuggler, identified as José Ascencio, was stopped for driving a van with polarized glass, which is cause for a fine, according to state traffic regulations. “When he was arrested, the driver left the van but couldn’t avoid the inspection, exposing a woman and six men of Cuban nationality,” Officer Cerón, of the municipal police, told 14ymedio.

Authorities from the National Institute of Migration (INM) took charge of the Cubans, who couldn’t verify their legal stay in the country, so they were transferred to a migration center. They will have a safe conduct pass to leave the country within 20 days, and if they’re arrested again they will be deported.

“They opened an investigation on the driver for smuggling and human trafficking, and the Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Migration Affairs will follow up on the case,” explained the municipal police.

The van with the Cubans was intercepted on Bernardo Reyes Avenue, in a marginal area of the state of Nuevo León, where the passage of migrants predominates due to the proximity to the Central Bus Station and several hostels. This point is three hours from Coahuila.

According to figures from the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior, 8,496 migrants were detained in Nuevo León, including 325 Cubans, in the first half of the year. These people are locked up at the Zozaya immigration center, in Guadeloupe, a site that has been denounced for human rights violations, extortion and threats by immigration agents. continue reading

The Cubans, Claridad Falcón Roque, Adrialys Caamaño Domínguez, Alejandro Lázaro Falcón Roque, César Mulet Marrero, Brian Michel Tasé Duarte and Dianet Ruiz Herrera, who spent more than a month in Zozaya, were released after paying about $1,000, although they had an amparo* granted by a judge.

The inconsistent treatment against Cubans in immigration centers has been a constant in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This newspaper received a complaint about the arbitrary detention of a family from the Island in the state of Puebla.

Yenisleidy Hernández Sánchez, Maikel Presno Sosa and their two sons, Eimis and Maikel Andrew, were imprisoned for more than a week at the immigration center, said lawyer José Luis Pérez Jiménez. “It’s evident that this is a violation of the human rights of detainees and Article 111 of the Migration Law,” since the agents imposed on them the payment of 10,000 pesos for their release, which is not stipulated in any immigration rule.

The irregular transfer of Cubans is encouraged by the Migration Unit, which has delayed the delivery of transit visas for up to 30 days. Some, such as in the state of Chiapas, are being deceived with the delivery of a humanitarian visa in the municipalities of Unión Juárez, Tuxtla Chico and Suchiate, near the border with Guatemala.

But the reality is that, since July, the only document that Migration is granting is a transit visa, which guarantees a regular stay for 30 days.

*Translator’s note: An amparo is a decree guaranteeing constitutional protection of rights.  

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Mexico Will Pay Cuba More than a Million Dollars a Month for 641 Healthcare Workers

A group of Cuban healthcare workers prior to their transfer to the Nayarit community of Santiago Ixcuintla. (Municipal DIF)

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 August 2022 — Finally, 641 Cuban doctors will be hired by the Mexican government to fill vacancies in precarious areas. The director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, indicated that these healthcare workers will be integrated into the Health Plan for Well-being and that “115 are already working in the states of Colima and Nayarit.”

A source from the Institute of Health for Welfare (Insabi), who withheld their name, confirmed to 14ymedio that the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, SA, will be “responsible for selecting the group of Cuban specialists and the salary issue.”

This Government of Havana company, created in 2011, has been accused internationally of human trafficking and forced labor. It is also pointed out as a business channel of the regime through which it operates, from sending personnel to international medical missions “paid” by the requesting countries, to offering treatments under the concept of health tourism. continue reading

The Insabi official affirmed that, by the end of 2022, it is expected that the 641 Cuban doctors will be giving consultations in the marginalized areas assigned to them. “The salaries are the same that Mexican doctors will receive, we are talking about 41,784 pesos (2,042 dollars) for a specialist and 35,237 pesos (1,722 dollars) for a general doctor.”

The money, 1,308,922 dollars per month, will be managed by Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A. “The agreement specifies that this first stage will be for one year, with the possibility of extending the agreement.”

The information provided by the director of IMSS is different from that published on August 3 by the journalist Lourdes Mendoza. The Government of Mexico informed via transparency of the hiring of 610 Cuban doctors, for whom it would pay Cuba 1,177,300 euros per month (1,199,645).

The source consulted by this newspaper confirmed, as made known to the communicator, that the payments will be deposited in an account of Banco Internacional de Comercio, SA, with fiscal domicile at Inmobiliaria Monte Barreto, Jerusalem building, ground floor, 3rd avenue, and / 78 and 80, Miramar, Playa, Havana, Cuba.

The Government of Mexico promised to provide accommodation and food to the Cuban doctors. Of the 115 specialists who are already in Mexico, 40 are women and 75 men. It was also detailed that 15 are high-demand specialties, 31 internal medicine, 31 pediatrics, 24 general surgery, and seven gynecology and obstetrics.

Insabi authorities asked the Island for a list of Cuban doctors who are missing to join the medical mission. “It is required to advance in immigration paperwork and the revalidation of studies before the Ministry of Public Education, which was what stopped the integration of the team in Nayarit,” explained the official.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The 54 Cuban Doctors in Nayarit, Mexico, Still Can’t See Patients

The delegation of Cuban doctors is housed in a hotel in downtown Tepic, in the Mexican state of Nayarit. (Twitter/@MarcosRguezC)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 29 June 2022 — Almost a week after the arrival of 54 Cuban doctors in the state of Nayarit, they are not yet allowed to see patients in the territory. A source from the local health sector confirmed to 14ymedio that they must undergo “study evaluations” before providing services in the hospitals in the seven marginal areas and the Tepic clinic to which they were assigned in Mexico.

On Thursday, the Secretary of Health of Nayarit, José Francisco Munguía, agreed to have the island’s doctors evaluated. “The [test] they do today defines if they are already ready,” he said, because, although “they are already demanding them from me” in the units, Cuban health workers must have a “leverage in the Directorate of Professionals,” a document that is also required of national doctors.

Article 5 of the Mexican Constitution establishes that, for the “exercise of one or more specialties, authorization from the General Directorate of Professions is required.” The retired minister of the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice, José Ramón Cossío, explained that to qualify for this permit, Cuban health workers “have to obtain the corresponding certificate.”

Sofía, a Mexican specialist who has had contact with the Cuban brigade, questioned the validity of the evaluation: “What they have received are lectures by some colleagues on specific topics and administrative training.”

One of these lectures was given by cardiologist Alejandra González, from the High Specialty Cardiological Unit. This specialist said that during the exchange of views on the treatment to be followed in patients with acute infarction, she was able to calibrate the level of the Cuban health workers. continue reading

“There I knew that there was nothing to discuss, that we are in two parallel worlds, different worlds in which the Mexican Government romantically wants to see the doctors of a third world country as a salvation,” Gónzalez said on her social networks.

The Mexican cardiologist specified: “Medical specialists asked me for the PowerPoint [slides] file to read again from there! I am perhaps more disappointed than annoyed, and maybe I am judging and generalizing, but if we examine them, I don’t think they’re ready.”

The lack of preparation of the doctors was also questioned by Gabriel Quadri, a deputy opposed to the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who also filed a complaint in March with the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic “for human trafficking, labor exploitation and forced labor,” when the hiring of 500 Cuban doctors by the Government of Mexico was confirmed.

A report revealed that the doctors on the island who arrived last year to support Mexico during the pandemic limited themselves to “making beds, taking vital signs, conducting surveys and passing sponges to patients to bathe.”

14ymedio verified that the 54 Cuban doctors who are currently in the country remain at the La Palomas hotel. “We have a crowd due to a doctors’ convention, but as of August 1, there is availability in the 75 rooms we have,” the receptionist said, by phone.

The hotel, which costs from $52 to $83 per night, has 67 standard rooms, six junior suites and two suites, all with cable TV, telephone, air conditioning and wireless network. Guests have free access to the pool and a jacuzzi.

The deputy of the opposition National Action Party, Mariana Gómez del Campo, expressed her disagreement with the hiring of 500 Cuban health workers by the Government of Mexico, “since the purpose of these missions is to enslave and exploit people.” According to her, in order for them to practice “they need a Mexican professional card” that they “don’t yet have.”

In Ixtlán del Río, one of the municipal capitals of Nayarit where health workers are expected to arrive, a residence has already been set up for two internists and two Cuban pediatricians. In the municipal presidency they are aware that the delay is due to an administrative obstacle.

In the hospital of the municipality of Rosamorada, however, they claim to be unaware of the causes for the delay. In this health center, which will be attended by eight Cuban doctors, 30 to 34 specialized consultations are offered, and up to three surgeries and three deliveries have been performed per day.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Cuban Doctors Already in Nayarit, Mexico, Aren’t Yet Seeing Patients, With the Hiring of Another 60 Cuban Doctors Already Announced

The brigade of 54 Cuban doctors that arrived in Nayarit, Mexico, last week still can’t join the hospitals in marginalized areas. (Twitter/@MarcosRguezC)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 1 August 2022 — The Institute of Health and Welfare (INSABI), an agency of the Government of Mexico, plans to cover the lack of 66 national specialists for the state of Colima with the hiring of another 60 Cuban doctors. The doctors will be assigned to rural areas, where there is a shortage of medicines, and 21% of the population (about 153,592 inhabitants) don’t have access to health services.

According to data offered to 14ymedio by an INSABI worker, doctors on the island will receive 2,042 dollars per month with “contracts of six months and one year of stay,” although it’s not known if the Government of Cuba will be the manager of the agreement and the one who distributes the salary, as happens in other medical brigades.

In Colima, the next arrival of Cuban gynecobstetricians, internists, anesthesiologists, pediatricians and surgeons is expected, “whose hiring will take place along with the regularization of 870 temporary workers,” doctors and nurses who were already working in state clinics.

This announcement is made a week after the arrival in the Mexican state of Nayarit of 54 doctors from the island, whose incorporation into second-level hospitals remains unknown, as well as the results of the evaluations to which they have been subjected, which will serve as a “leverage in the Directorate of Professionals,” a document that is also required of national doctors, according to the Secretary of Health of Nayarit, José Francisco Munguía.  A source from the local health sector assures this newspaper that “some procedures have yet to be covered.”

“It was planned that, this Monday, at least part of the brigade was now going to join the hospitals in which they were assigned to start providing consultation,” says the local official. The federal health sector says it doesn’t know the reasons for the delay. continue reading

In the hospital, located in the town of Las Varas, in the municipality of Compostela, the health authorities also ignore the date of arrival of the Cuban doctors. “When do they arrive? No one knows,” says Rocío, a nurse from this town in the state of Nayarit who was contacted by 14ymedio. “All support is always welcome, but it bothers us that it is now that they pay attention to our hospital, which has so many needs, and all because of the arrival of Cuban doctors. Anyway, I hope they arrive soon.”

Nor have the residents of Puente de Camotlán (La Yesca), Jesús María (Del Nayar), San Francisco and Tondoroque (Bahía de Banderas) and the municipal capitals of Santiago Ixcuintla, Rosamorada and Ixtlán del Río received specific news about  the Cuban doctors.

This Sunday, Xavier Tello, a doctor and health policy analyst, explained that in order for the Cubans to be able to practice their profession in Mexico, they require “a Mexican professional card to accredit their studies, and, in the case of specialists, they must have a certification from the Council of their specialty.”

Tello noted in an interview with Radio Fórmula that “the only way they can take care of a person is under the direct supervision of a Mexican doctor with a professional card, but they cannot issue a prescription or offer a diagnostic opinion.”

For the analyst, “the reality is that the Government of Mexico wants to give money to Cuba, period.” This will be done, according to Tello, through two channels: “Training these doctors and sending some Mexican interns to study on the island.”

This newspaper tried to contact, without success, the Cuban health workers, hosted until further notice at the La Palomas hotel, in Tepic. “They can’t take calls,” said the receptionist, who pointed out that they leave the hotel early and spend almost nine hours at the headquarters of the state delegation of the Mexican Social Security Institute of Nayarit.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Mexican Government Will Pay $2,000 a Month for Cuban Doctors

A delegation of Cuban doctors with health authorities in the Mexican state of Nayarit. (Government of Nayarit)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Havana, 27 July 2022 — The 500 Cuban doctors who were hired by the Government of Mexico to provide services in marginal areas of the country will receive a salary similar to that of Mexican health workers. “They will receive between 41,784 ($2,042) and 35,237 pesos ($1,722) per month,” an employee of the Institute of Health for Welfare (Insabi) told 14ymedio.

The source specified that, because doctors who are in the state of Nayarit have specialties in anesthesiology, general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, internal medicine and pediatrics, they must receive $2,042 per month. Although “it’s not established whether the money will be received by them or will go through the Government of Cuba,” the official said.

“Housing and food will be covered by the municipal authorities [of the cities] where each hospital is located,” the source added, and also explained that “every 180 days the immigration permit will be renewed.”

The call issued by the Mexican Social Security Institute and Insabi indicates that the contract for doctors is temporary and will last for four months, and that the doctors will be entitled to benefits and training. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday that Cuban health workers “will be protected” at work. continue reading

López Obrador said that after Nayarit, the next states will be Tlaxcala and Colima, plus the Sierra de Guerrero, a region that was initially pointed out by the president as the one with the greatest health need and to which the 500 doctors from the island would be sent.

On Wednesday, the health authorities of Nayarit confirmed to 14ymedio that 47 Cuban doctors were taken to the hospitals that are located in the rural towns of Las Varas, in the municipality of Compostela, Puente de Camotlán (La Yesca), Jesús María (Del Nayar), San Francisco and Tondoroque (Bahía de Banderas), and to the municipal capitals of Santiago Ixcuintla, Rosamorada and Ixtlán del Río. Seven doctors were incorporated into the staff of the central hospital of Tepic.

The Cuban medical missions that provided their service during the COVID-19 pandemic were criticized for the lack of preparation of their health workers and the high costs they represented for Mexico.

A report revealed that doctors from the island limited themselves to “making beds, taking vital signs, conducting surveys and passing sponges to patients to bathe,” while the Cuban authorities proclaimed that mortality rates had decreased during their stay in Mexico.

In March 2021 it was announced that the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum, head of Government of Mexico City, spent a total of 150,759,867 pesos ($6,986,091) on the hiring of 585 Cuban doctors who were working in the capital from April 24 to July 24, 2020, once 14,884,785 pesos ($689,749) were added for the accommodation and feeding of the doctors. For the other brigades that have arrived in the country, the amounts disbursed to the Cuban Government are not known.

On the same subject, the coordinator in the Mexican Senate of the opposition National Action Party, Julen Rementería, accused the Governments of Mexico and Cuba of orchestrating a fraud by paying,12,692,940 dollars for the hiring of 585 untitled health workers from the island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.