Cuban Doctors Flee Venezuela With The Help Of U.S. Parole Program

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.ibtimes.com/cuban-doctors-flee-venezuela-help-us-parole-program-1725034

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The U.S. has been a prime destination of Cuban defectors in the health care sector, with the help of the little-known Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, launched by executive order under President George W. Bush in 2006. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, the number of medical workers from Cuba who have come to the U.S. under that program quadrupled in the last four years, aided heavily in the last year by defectors from Venezuela.

Since September 2013, some 700 Cuban medical professionals have abandoned their stations in Venezuela, up from 300 the previous year, according to Solidarity Without Borders (SSF), a nonprofit organization based in Florida that helps Cuban health care workers transition their careers in the United States. The U.S. granted 1,289 visas to Cuban medical professionals in fiscal year 2014, a record, with 1,438 visas granted to defectors from Venezuela in the past four years.

“Worsening conditions in Venezuela push defection up,” SSF president Dr. Julio Cesar Alfonso told Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. “Insecurity, low wages, labor exploitation and control over private life continue to be the main causes.” In Venezuela, it’s common for defectors to escape first through Colombia with the help of smugglers before applying to the U.S. parole program for a visa.

Many Cuban medical professionals opt to participate in the country’s infamous international medical programs for higher wages offered in other countries; in Brazil, for instance, doctors are reportedly paid $1,125 a month, while in Cuba, the government recently raised doctors’ salaries to around $67. But some doctors have also reported being coerced by Cuban authorities to work in Venezuela’s poorest and most insecure neighborhoods without adequate protection or enough money to eke out a decent living. Alfonso told El Universal Cuban medical workers in Venezuela often only receive around $100 while the Cuban government reaps most of the financial rewards from the deal. “They cannot refuse to work, they are poorly paid and no one says a word,” he said.

[Marksman_91]

1. Oh, but PLEASE, by all means, let's talk about the VISA opportunities the US gives out every year

I'm sure there are more than enough to give out for all the Cubans who wish to go abroad...

[Bacchus4.0]

2. This is indentured servitude at best, more like human slave trafficking n/t

[joshcryer]

4. It is literal slave trade.

I did the math on the oil program and realistically doctors choose the program as a way to get out of Cuba since they're forbidden to get an exit visa.

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Defection of Cubans from Venezuela doubles

http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/141115/defection-of-cubans-from-venezuela-doubles


Between 2012 and 2014, defection of Cuban doctors from Venezuela doubled, with many of them reporting worsening work conditions, according to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and official statistics.

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Defection has significantly grown since 2013, considering that from September 2012 to September 2013, some 300 Cuban physicians abandoned Venezuelan welfare programs known as missions, according to data provided by Dr. Julio César Alfonso, President of Solidarity without Borders (SSF), a Miami-based organization helping Cuban doctors seeking to leave.

"Worsening conditions in Venezuela push defection up. Insecurity, low wages, labor exploitation, and control over the private life continue to be the main causes," Alfonso told El Universal.

State-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) is in charge of paying for the services of Cuban professionals directly to the Cuban government. "Payments range from USD 1,500 to USD 4,000 for each healthcare professional. They barely receive USD 100 or less; the Cuban government keeps the rest," Alfonso explained.

"We are witnessing the largest human trafficking network fostered by a State against its citizens. They cannot refuse to work, they are poorly paid, and no one says a word," Dr. Alfonso regretted.