Cuban Doctors in Calabria Receive Only 23% of Their Salary

MIAMI, United States. – Roberto Occhiuto, president of the Calabria region in southern Italy, has defended the healthcare cooperation agreement that has brought, so far, 372 Cuban doctors to the area. “The Cuban doctors in Calabria are completely free, [and are] perfectly integrated into the communities where they work; some have even gotten married,” Occhiuto said in statements to Il Sole 24 Ore. According to him, those who accuse the doctors of being “slaves” or “controlled by the regime” are “talking nonsense.”

However, a recent CubaNet investigation by journalist Annarella Grimal, based on direct testimony, internal documents, and official reports, forcefully refutes these claims. What is portrayed in official speeches as humanitarian cooperation is, in practice—and according to experts and international organizations—a labor exploitation network operated by the Cuban state on European soil.

A Humanitarian Façade for a Model of Exploitation

Italy pays Cuban doctors a gross monthly salary of around €4,700. But CubaNet documented that, even though the full amount is deposited into the doctors’ personal accounts, they are required to transfer between 54% and 80% of their earnings each month to Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. (CSMC), the Cuban state enterprise that manages medical missions.

In the report From Havana to Calabria: The Trafficking of Cuban Doctors in Italy, CubaNet highlighted:
“Of the €34.50 per hour that Italy agreed to pay as a base wage, the doctor [interviewed] only receives €6.68—just two euros more than what an undocumented farmworker earns in nearby Foggia.”

Occhiuto—who also serves as Calabria’s Health Commissioner and is currently under investigation for corruption—claims otherwise: “They receive around €4,700 gross per month into an Italian bank account, just like their Calabrian colleagues, and they also receive housing provided by the region as an incentive.”

But CubaNet-reviewed documents show the existence of a dual-contract system. One, signed with Italian authorities, reflects the full salary; the other, drawn up by CSMC, limits the amount the doctors can keep to €1,200 per month.
“For us, it’s €1,200. The bank statements don’t lie,” said one of the interviewed doctors.

Moreover, that amount is subject to at least €200 in monthly deductions for six months, bringing their average take-home pay down to €1,100.

Far from “Free”: Surveillance and Control

Far from being “free,” as Occhiuto claims, Cuban doctors in Calabria are subjected to a regime of surveillance and control more reminiscent of an intelligence operation than medical collaboration. According to CubaNet, doctors must request permission to leave the cities where they are assigned, they are forbidden from joining Italian labor unions or participating in protests, and they must report any romantic relationships or marriage plans to the Cuban Medical Mission leadership in Italy.

“They wanted me to report every personal relationship I had. I don’t even owe my parents that many explanations. It’s insane,” said one of the interviewed doctors.

Doctors are also forced to participate in political activities and propaganda campaigns organized by the Cuban regime in Italy. An internal document cited by CubaNet reveals that a group of doctors acts as “social media monitors,” reporting weekly on colleagues who fail to engage with official mission content online.

Ironically, Occhiuto himself admitted in 2022 that the original agreement had to be modified because the initial contract “allowed doctors to keep all their earnings” due to an “exceptional provision” by Cuban authorities. He now maintains, “The facts show these are free and well-integrated people.”

Arbitrary Deductions and Ghost Taxes

One of the most egregious findings from CubaNet is the imposition of illegal deductions from the doctors’ salaries. For example, CSMC withholds up to 71.5% of overtime pay, citing a 43% tax—an amount that does not exist under Italian tax law.
“Italy’s tax on overtime is entirely different; in fact, there’s a flat 15% rate,” the report clarifies.

In December 2024, the state company also took over 80% of the so-called ‘13th month’ bonus, a legally mandated year-end bonus equivalent to one month’s salary. Doctors who protested were ignored. In an audio obtained by CubaNet, Crotone’s provincial coordinator, Iván Martínez Rivera, initially expressed disagreement but backtracked after a video call with senior Cuban officials.

The control system is further enforced through direct threats. Doctors who fail to transfer the required portion of their salary are labeled “problematic” or “ideologically deviant.” If they refuse to return to Cuba at the end of their contract, they face legal sanctions, including an eight-year ban from entering the country and the loss of their professional license.

“It’s out of necessity—they give you no other choice,” said Dr. Campos. “Having to report where I go, who I’m with, who I laugh with… it goes beyond a work relationship: it’s like a master-slave dynamic.”

Italian Media and Parliament Take Notice

Il Sole 24 Ore, in its coverage of the issue, reported that desertions have already occurred, with some Cuban doctors choosing to work in private clinics or leaving the country altogether. “Some doctors have completely vanished from the radar,” the paper noted. The case has also reached the Italian Parliament, with MP Anna Laura Orrico calling on Occhiuto to guarantee the labor rights of Cuban doctors.

Even members of Occhiuto’s own political bloc have raised concerns. Mimmo Tallini, of Calabria’s center-right, questioned “the salaries, dignity, and protections of the Cuban workers.”

Wage Theft, Coercion, and Human Rights Violations

Occhiuto’s statements are not only contradicted by first-hand testimonies and internal documents but also by the analysis of Il Sole 24 Ore, which reveals a landscape of exploitation, control, and precarious labor conditions. The official narrative of “freedom” and “integration” stands in stark contrast to a reality of wage expropriation, coercion, and systematic human rights violations.

As one doctor told CubaNet:
“I feel like a slave,” she said, admitting she lacks the courage to break free for fear of never seeing her family again.
“It’s impossible to embrace freedom when you’ve never known it.”

Legal Expert: “A Form of Modern Slavery”

In a conversation with CubaNet, Laritza Diversent, director of the Cuban legal watchdog Cubalex, argued that what Cuban doctors face on international missions—including in Italy—fits the definition of modern slavery under International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and international law.

“Forced labor and modern slavery are defined, among other things, by the extreme vulnerability of the person,” Diversent explained. “And anyone living in Cuba today is in a state of vulnerability, even if they hold a university degree.”

She added: “When you threaten someone’s salary or threaten to send them back to a place with worse conditions, you are abusing your power.”
“You create an entire system in which the threat is to return them to a place with 72-hour blackouts, no food, no medicine… That’s exploitation.”

Diversent, who has interviewed numerous Cuban doctors from missions around the world, says the control is systematic: “After 6:00 PM, [in some countries], it’s like a curfew. It’s not written anywhere, but mission supervisors call their residences and do roll call.”

Punishments range from “public reprimands” to 10% salary deductions. Doctors must report their movements and are even required to inform on colleagues who have defected.
“If that’s not control and lack of freedom, I don’t know what is,” the lawyer said.

She also pointed out the political dimension of forced participation in propaganda activities:
“These medical missions influence voters (…) When deployed to rural areas other doctors avoid, they impact elections. That benefits whoever’s in power.”

Diversent concluded: “They’re not sharing their salaries voluntarily—they do it because they’re poor. That’s the root of slavery. It’s modern slavery. You have to read the ILO conventions on forced labor to understand that what these doctors are living through isn’t cooperation—it’s exploitation.”

“They [Cuban doctors] are the last link in the chain,” she said. “The only solution is for them to come forward and speak out. Unfortunately, they’re under the threat of being returned to Cuba and prosecuted — this is transnational repression — but the only thing they can do is keep talking to the independent press.”

“If this man [Roberto Occhiuto] insists on denying reality, the doctors must continue providing evidence and testimony to end this exploitation,” she concluded.

ARTÍCULO DE OPINIÓN
Las opiniones expresadas en este artículo son de exclusiva responsabilidad de quien las emite y no necesariamente representan la opinión de CubaNet.

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