Examination of the Latest Ministry of Public Health Crusade

Examination of the Latest Ministry of Public Health Crusade / Jeovany
Jimenez Vega
Posted on July 30, 2015

Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 3 April 2015 — The gods of Olympus have spoken. In
their eyes we, miserable creatures, must simply obey and resign
ourselves to complying with their divine whims. I will try to translate
into the language of mortals the outrageous coercive measures ordered by
the Cuban government, through the Minister of Public Health, to try to
stem the current exodus of healthcare professionals. In the same order
in which they were set out, it would read something like this:

4. Stop the increase of individual contracts* in Angola: Because the
African country is forever indebted to Cuba since the 1980s war, it goes
without saying that it is obligated to comply with everything that
Havana orders. In other words: Cubans in Angola as cannon fodder, yes;
Cubans in Angola to work honestly, without being exploited by the Cuban
government, never.

5. Confiscate the official passports of all employees upon their arrival
at the airport: Here we have the Ministry of Health taking measures
that, apart from their obvious illegality, really belong under the
jurisdiction of the Directorate of Immigration of the Interior Ministry,
in Cuban Customs. This shows, if anyone still doubted, that in this
little country everything converges in a single, centralized, and
despotic power, which has no qualms about treating all of us, without
distinction, as common criminals.

6. Promote agreements with private clinics: Here we have that
slavery-promoting monster, the Distributor of Medical and Health
Services, trying to wrap its tentacles of control around each private
clinic in every country where Cuban doctors have decided to emancipate
themselves from its networks. This shows how sick and delusional its
obsession is to block the personal success of our professionals.

7. Review the interministerial agreements so they don't allow freedom of
contract: This proposal, which the leaders of Havana hope to establish
in half the world, covering both public and private institutions, is
nothing more than a subconscious reflection of what Cuban medical
missions have always been: a lucrative method of emotional blackmail.
That is, if I provide you with doctors at bargain prices, who are
willing to go into those dreaded favelas (off-limits even to the
police), exposed to dangers that your own doctors would never accept,
you are obligated to comply when I "renegotiate" with you the terms of
the contract.

8. Explicitly reflect the commitment of no individual hiring in the
individual agreement with the employee: This is actually nothing new.
Until now it has always been an uncompromising principle that not only
is individual hiring prohibited, but even something as simple as an
employee in a foreign country just talking with someone who is an actual
or suspected opponent of the "regime friend." Cuban employees will never
be allowed freedom of movement, such that they are prohibited from
leaving their assigned place even for something as nearby and ordinary
as shopping, for example, without the consent of their bosses—meaning
the political hitmen, who are officially and completely in control,
placed there by Cuban State Security.

10. Disqualify those who dare to disobey Caesar from practicing their
profession: The professionals who today work abroad, for wages far more
appropriate than they received in Cuba—including those on official
medical missions—are not willing to be used like toilet paper. It is
ridiculous to claim that there are only 211 cases countrywide of those
who decided to work outside Cuba "without authorization," when in fact
the number is in the thousands.

12. Deem the failure to comply with the requirement of giving advance
notice to terminate the employment relationship as a serious
disciplinary infraction: If there is some reason in this, then common
sense dictates that timely notice should be given of any decision to
abandon a certain place in order to timely look for a substitute. But
that raises the question—why have thousands of professionals refused to
comply with something so basic? Are we Cuban doctors so irresponsible?
Or is it that ultimately we cannot rely at all on the "goodwill" of our
leaders, after being subjected for many decades to all kinds of
arbitrariness, abuse, and despotism, and to our most basic needs being
ignored? Aren't these the same ministerial and governmental authorities
who for more than a decade applied the unprecedented policy that
required us to wait for more than five years if we wanted to travel
abroad, waiting for the "release" from our minister? Finally could it be
that these authorities no longer have any credibility in the eyes of
their workers? Here I recall the old saying of grandfather Liborio: when
there is revenge, there are no grievances.

13. Issue disqualification notices to workers who violate procedures for
leaving the country: Professionals who take the irrevocable personal
decision to work temporarily or permanently abroad, for wages far more
appropriate than those they receive in Cuba including those on official
medical missions—are not willing to be used like toilet paper.

14. Relocate those returning to Cuba after working abroad under an
individual contract to a lower-status position—never to the position
they originally occupied: The punishment, not as a vindicating end, but
as an inviolable fundamental principle, as the cardinal sign that never
fails in the mind of the despots. This section shows that those who
today are exporting as authentic their pretensions of "change" and
sweetened "reforms" remain the same miserable characters as always.

16 and 17. Organize, in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry, meetings
with the relevant foreign ambassadors in Havana, and direct the team
leaders and Cuban ambassadors in their respective countries to
discourage individual contracts: Once again they reveal the long
tentacles of the political mafia of Havana. Here we have the incredible
act of the Cuban government, through its Ministry of Health, taking an
openly interventionist position, dictating measures inside other
countries, trying to impose decisions about their healthcare policies.
It's a good thing that, with evil US imperialism interfering in the
internal politics of other countries, the immaculate Cuban Revolution is
there to stop it! Where would these poor people be without this greatest
Revolution of ours?

*Translator's note: A contract made directly between a host country and
a Cuban doctor, without payment to the Cuban government.

Source: Examination of the Latest Ministry of Public Health Crusade /
Jeovany Jimenez Vega | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/examination-of-the-latest-ministry-of-public-health-crusade-jeovany-jimenez-vega/