Comment: One of the things that frustrates me about ”Progressives” and Cuba is their double standards where human rights and Castro are concerned. The following article from Cuba Archive attempts to set the record straight.
Cuba's state-run human trafficking business
Part I: Forced labor: the export services of temporary workers
“Contrary to fighting human trafficking, the government is likely “one of the largest and most profitable traffickers in the world.” This statement was part of the recent testimony in Congress[1] by Cuba Archive’s Executive Director, Maria Werlau, on Cuba’s gigantic human trafficking business.
“A creative scheme of forced labor —temporary workers for export— accounts for Cuba’s largest, and growing, source of revenues. According to official reports, around 65,000 are serving the Cuban government in 91 countries; 75% (around 50,000) are in the health sector. The services of doctors, sports trainers, teachers, construction workers, entertainers, sailors, scientists, architects, engineers, and many other professionals and technicians are sold through large state entities, including two large health conglomerates (ServiMed-Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A. and the BioFarma Cuba group), and at least 84 smaller state entities (see http://www.cepec.cu/). Their wages, for the most part, go directly to the Cuban government, whose annual export services net of tourism grew from US$1.5 billion in 2003 to US$7.8 billon in 2011 (the latest official data from Cuba). Recent reports put the annual figure at around US$8.2 billion (three times tourism revenues reported at around $2.7 billion a year)…”
