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Guantanamo.- Following the presentation of the report \u201cLabor Rights of Healthcare Personnel in Medical Missions from Cuba\u201d by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Mexico\u2019s representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Alejandro Encinas, expressed reservations about its conclusions this Friday and defended the working conditions of Cuban doctors in Mexico.<\/p>\n
During the presentation of the document, held during the OAS regular session, the Mexican diplomat emphasized the importance of recognizing the scope and limitations of the study, while also highlighting the substantial differences between the Mexican reality and the cases reported in other countries.<\/p>\n
The report, prepared by the Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA), presents, based on 71 testimonies, alleged labor and human rights violations in medical missions, with an emphasis on Venezuela.<\/p>\n
At the document\u2019s presentation ceremony, Encinas indicated that Mexico \u201ctakes note\u201d of the report and agreed on the importance of promoting human rights observance in the region, although he stressed that the findings cannot be generalized.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation described in the report cannot be generalized by analyzing only 71 cases out of thousands that exist,\u201d he stated, specifying that more than 2,500 Cuban doctors have worked in Mexico.<\/p>\n
In this context, he defended the cooperation agreement with Cuba to address the shortage of specialists, particularly in remote and highly marginalized communities, and emphasized that this program has been key to bringing health services to historically underserved populations.<\/p>\n
Encinas affirmed that in Mexico, international medical personnel enjoy working conditions comparable to those of national specialists. \u201cThey receive the same salary as a national specialist. Payment is made directly to the doctor without any special subsidies,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
He added that, in many cases, they are provided with housing and food, and that some have established family ties in the communities where they serve, demonstrating a respectful integration process with the host communities.<\/p>\n
He also denied that there are any restrictions on the doctors\u2019 freedom. \u201cTheir documents are not withheld, and they have complete freedom to join any public or private institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As an example, he mentioned that in at least 75 cases, the Mexican government has directly hired these professionals upon completion of their participation in the program, demonstrating its commitment to retaining the talent developed during the collaboration.<\/p>\n
He also asserted that the hiring of foreign doctors does not displace national personnel. \u201cEach position filled by an international doctor was preceded by at least three unanswered public calls for applications,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
In his opinion, these professionals fill vacancies that would otherwise remain unfilled and contribute to reducing the backlog in specialized care in vulnerable areas, a structural problem affecting several regions of the country.<\/p>\n
Encinas defended the cooperation with Cuba as a sovereign and solidarity-based policy. \u201cIt is a legitimate and necessary agreement that draws on the best of our peoples\u2019 traditions,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he warned that the defense of human rights should not imply \u201ccontravening international law or seeking any form of tutelage,\u201d in a clear allusion to criticisms that seek to discredit South-South cooperation mechanisms.<\/p>\n
He indicated that Mexico will follow up on the rapporteur\u2019s observations, although he considered that the Mexican experience \u201cis not valued in this report,\u201d and therefore a more detailed analysis of the documented cases will be conducted.<\/p>\n
In that regard, he reiterated his government\u2019s willingness to share its health cooperation model as an example of best practices that could enrich the regional debate on the labor rights of migrant medical personnel.<\/p>\n
(With information from La Jornada)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guantanamo.- Following the presentation of the report \u201cLabor Rights of Healthcare Personnel in Medical Missions from Cuba\u201d by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Mexico\u2019s representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Alejandro Encinas, expressed reservations about its conclusions this Friday and defended the working conditions of Cuban doctors in Mexico. During the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15988,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15986\/revisions\/15988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}