Two doctors told ‘14ymedio‘ that the bank told them it did not have the foreign currency to pay them what they were owed under the contract upon their return to the island.
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 12, 2025 — After years of being on a medical mission in Angola, the Cuban doctors, when they return, are meeting with a very unpleasant surprise. The banks do not have hard currency for them to withdraw the dollar amount accumulated in their accounts. The only legal alternative left is to use their savings in freely convertible currency (MLC), an option they consider “armed robbery.”
Ana Isabel, a Cuban doctor whose name has been changed for this report, spent two years at the Hospital Materno Infantil do Camama Dr. Manuel Pedro Azancot de Menezes in Luanda. Separated from her family, the specialist placed all her hopes on the money that, while she worked on the African continent, was accumulating in her account at the Banco Popular de Ahorro (BPA) on the island.
“We were supposed to receive a total of $1,200 dollars per month. There they had to give us $200 in kuanzas [the official currency of Angola] and the other $1,000 would be deposited in Cuba,” the doctor tells 14ymedio. ” But in Angola, they never gave us the $200; something always happened and we were given only $100 (82,500 kuanzas), with the option that the family in Cuba could withdraw another $50 from the bank depending on the availability of hard currency at that time.”
“There they never gave us the $200; something always happened and they gave us only $100 (82,500 kuanzas), with the option that the family here could withdraw another $50 from the bank depending on the availability of hard currency at that time.”
Cuban professionals in Angola had to tighten their belts, because, although they have free accommodation, food and other expenses paid, “Sometimes I couldn’t even recharge my phone. But I thought that all this sacrifice was worth it if I had my dollars guaranteed when I returned, as the contract with Antex [Corporación Antillana Exportadora S.A] promised,” explains Ana Isabel.
The Antex Corporation, an entity included on the black list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Treasury Department (OFAC), belongs to the Cuban military conglomerate Gaesa. The entity manages businesses on Angolan territory ranging from the construction of motorways, through the repair of aerodromes to travel agencies. Between 2013 and 2017 alone, Angola paid more than $1 billion to Antex, according to research published by El Toque.
Cuba has more than taken advantage of the participation, financed by the former USSR, of its more than 300,000 soldiers in the civil war in Angola between 1975 and 1991. It has done this precisely through Antex. According to the Portuguese press, in 2015, 70% of the health personnel in that country were Cuban.
In the document signed by all Cubans on official mission to Angola – more than 2,000 now among doctors, nurses, health technicians, builders, drivers and higher education teachers – it is stated that Antex, “provided that cash is available for this purpose, shall credit the Worker during the month preceding the date of his return to the Homeland, one hundred percent (100%) of the amount in USD from his monthly salary”. For most doctors, the cumulative amount is between $20,000 and $22,000.
“When we returned, we were told that the bank had no hard currency available and that we could only access money through our cards in MLC”
However, the contract has become a worthless piece of paper. ” When we returned, they told us that the bank had no hard currency available and that we could only access money through our MLC cards”, explains the doctor to this newspaper. She, however, feels lucky. ” On my vacation in Cuba, in the middle of the mission, I was able to withdraw $1,500, because at that time the bank had availability, but now it doesn’t and probably won’t in the short term.”
Last February, a group of doctors complained to Antex about the lack of hard currency. The official response then was that they were working to switch their magnetic cards to the Classic prepaid mode, so that they could buy in the dollar stores that began opening on the island since the beginning of this year. “It was not ideal, because most people want cash, but at least we could buy some products necessary for day-to-day.” But the promise has not yet been fulfilled. “We have been robbed of our money,” a doctor says bitterly.
“We have to sell our MLC in the street, under the risk of being caught by the police and convicted for the crime of illegal currency trafficking, and then buy the dollars we need on the black market,” says Maria Isabel, aware that the informal exchange rate is now 260 pesos per MLC and 375 for each dollar.” With the cards we have now we can’t go to any of those markets, like the 3rd and 70th in Miramar. The ones we can use are almost empty, dark stores that don’t even have detergent.”
Arnaldo, a doctor, experienced a similar situation. After working for two years in several hospitals, including the Comandante Raúl Díaz-Argüelles, in Cuanza Sur. The professional, also with his identity protected to avoid retaliation, tells this newspaper that he had to “pluck up courage” in the last year of his stay in Angola to not desert. “I did not miss the hospital because they treated us like garbage, but in Cuba I have my parents who are very old, and I can’t leave them alone.”
Arnaldo knows that for his work as a doctor, Angola pays Antex $5,000 per month. Of that, the doctor received only $100 each month, in kuanzas. “The bank account in Cuba was designed for my return, to use that currency to go to Brazil with my brother, to make my way there and be able to get my parents out soon after,” he says. But of the money in the BPA, he has not yet been able to touch a single dollar.
Arnaldo knows that for his work as a doctor, Angola pays Antex $5,000 per month. Of that, the doctor received only $100 each month, in kuanzas.
Unlike Ana Isabel, when Arnaldo was on vacation in Cuba in the middle of the medical mission, he could not access a single dollar from his account, although the contract ensures that he could draw up to 50% of the amount accumulated during that break. They told me that they had no availability at the bank even though I had made the withdrawal request a few months earlier from Angola,” he says. “Nor did it help that I was given a hard time about the crisis and told that the country does not have access to international currencies.”
“The contract says very clearly that the account that Antex opens to deposit part of our salary is in dollars,” explains Arnaldo. “We were told that they guaranteed the withdrawals once we returned without deserting the mission, but the truth is that I have not been able to get anything out of the bank”. The doctor feels cheated and regrets not having accepted some proposals to move to the private sector that he received in Angola.
“I made good friends there, including Cubans who work on their own in clinics in Luanda, and they told me to stay, not to return to Cuba, that I was going to make money, but I thought Antex would fulfill the contract and so I returned.” On several occasions, when the meager $100 he received in Cuanza del Sur did not suffice to eat, he had to ask his brother in Brazil for help. “No one can believe this, but when I went on vacation to Cuba a friend had to loan me some dollars so that I could have some money there.”
“I received proposals to do some consulting on my own and earn a little money directly but that was very dangerous. Because if you did work outside and they caught you, they would send you back to Cuba with a penalty, and they could take all the money accumulated in your account, so I didn’t want to risk it,”,says Arnaldo. His restraint did not serve him very well.
“Now I’m like a criminal; I had to set up an account with another name on Facebook to see if someone wants to buy my MLC in pesos and then try to buy dollars.” His goal is to recover at least between 5,000 and 8,000 dollars to buy the plane ticket that will take him off the island and leave him with something for the journey to the Brazilian border.” I’m tired of talking to Antex and the bank; now all I want is to get out of here”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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