I read a poem titled "Cause causes Things" many years ago. I can't even remember the who was the author or the words of the poem. However, by the title, its premise was that everything that happens has a root cause. Sometimes we do injustice to issues by the hot and sweaty surface value placed on complex matters, never attempting to, or just unable or unwilling to address the root details.

The Cubans for generations have been providing assistance to many Caribbean countries by way of doctors and other professionals. They have also trained several thousands of our many professionals. All this, while under a severe and brutal embargo, just because a bully from the north does not agree with their sovereign rights to run their state as they please. That embargo is the root of Cuba's problem, but not a single mention of that wickedness. Instead, after all those years of benefits, suddenly everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon of hypocrisy and propaganda in attempting to justify their governments sudden turn on a generous friend. Suddenly, their situation is compared to slavery.

Was it slavery for the Cubans to train all their many thousands of doctors and other professionals for free? The Cuban doctors finish their training with zero student loans. In many of the so called free states, most can't even afford a bachelors' degree to their citizens. And, with all the freedom that they possess, the few who attempt to go on to further education are riddled with student loan debts after just a bachelor's degree. In the free world away from Cuba many had to abandon plans after their first degree.

How many of us know several poor people's children who would have never been able to go to a university, are today medical practitioners, engineers etc, all because of the slavery in Cuba? It is so dishonest how these issues are addressed. In some countries the bulk of the doctors and trained professional are Cuban trained. How come all along it was not slavery. And, before the locals were trained in Cuba, the Cubans were the ones supplying these places with their own professionals; all while freedom reigned in the USA.

Quite frankly, many of us can claim that those situations above are not the same as we know. In fact, in some islands, the Cubans are paid according to local standards and move around freely in society.

I am a firm advocate for Cuba, and declare that the murderous embargo be lifted. Even so, I would not rush to condemn the leaders who chose to move on from Cuba. It hurts, but this is a new dispensation, and there are tremendous pressures. The bully to the north at this time is irrational, dangerous, and would spare no efforts to do as he pleases to get his way. They have the capacity to hurt us at will if they wish to. It is very difficult for any leadership in the region at this time, especially after the vulgar betrayal of CARICOM by Trinidad"s government. While I hope that Cuba would prevail, I understand the dangers. I am certain that Cuba understands the difficulties those leaders face. My hope right now is that Iran continues to show them what "biting more than you can chew" means. I hope the lessons of Iran may help save Cuba. Cuba has been a faithful friend of the Caribbean for generations. Basin Initiatives, and the recent summits only come now and then, when they are ready to divide Caricom. As soon as they invaded Grenada, the basin Initive waned. Just the same, if they ever get a chance to dismantle Cuba, all the love for our region, and summits of selected few would diminish too.

Lifting the embargo is the only solution to Cuba's problems. Just the same, Trinidad's crime problem is internal, and no amount of old talk, bombing fishermen could change that. It is internal, and only cooperation, and coordination between government and opposition, in consultation with the people could change that. As long as government and opposition have to be in public spars over crime, the criminals would just be laughing ha ha.

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Instead of posting word salads of inaccuracy...why not simply check before you post?

Most Cuban doctors in the U.S./Canada find that their previous training is not directly recognized. Many have to "start all over again," often working in lower-level medical roles while studying for exams.

Yes, the Cuban government provides free medical training to its citizens and some foreign students, treating education as a public good. However, this is part of a state-run system where doctors are later required to work, often in mandatory international missions, where the government retains 80–95% of their salaries as payment

Mandatory Service & Compensation: In exchange for free education, Cuban doctors are required to serve within a system where they receive low salaries (around a month at home) and are frequently assigned to international medical missions.

State Profit: The Cuban government charges foreign countries for these medical services, earning over 7.7 billion in 2018.

 It’s a critique of a system that can dress itself up as humanitarian while operating with the logic of control and extraction. Call it exploitation, call it coercive labour, call it state-managed servitude, choose the term you think is most precise. But don’t pretend the restrictions are imaginary, don’t pretend the wage capture is irrelevant, and don’t hide behind insults when someone points out what these missions can look like on the ground

The point is the controlling architecture: the limits on autonomy, the surveillance, the threat of punishment, the separation of families as policy, the inability of married couples to be stationed together in the same country. Those are not minor “HR policies.” They’re mechanisms of control. They exist for a reason.

My notation based on factual information shows how the Cuban government is forcing such individuals to work in similar conditions as slaves... I view coercive labour as slavery in the 21st century.

@Besar

Yrs ago on Jamaica's 'Profile' a young Cuban trained doctor from Waterhouse (inner-city) commented.a. No way could he be a doctor without Cuba.

b. The awe of a lil boy from his community who he treated at hospital ( mi hear seh wan docta from roun' deh work a KPH, so a yuh?!)

c. How many Cuban trained doctors do residencies and other training in Canada and Europe then become specialists in 'Murca.

That Cuban doctors abroad can't move around freely and tourists in Cuba can't move around freely is a BLATANT, VICIOUS LIE! Some who benefitted from the same system practiced in Cuba and Cuba itself are now bashing it for particular reasons.

"If your principle changes based on who you are dealing with..."

Nelson Rolhlilia Mandela

@Besar

Interesting diatribe. Thank you.

@CricSham

Guyana and Jamaica are terminating long-standing medical agreements with Cuba, resulting in the withdrawal of hundreds of Cuban personnel, notes Forbes. The move follows disputes over payment structures, with Guyana seeking to pay doctors directly rather than through the Cuban government, alongside rising pressure from the United States classifying the arrangement as forced labour.

That Cuban doctors abroad can't move around freely and tourists in Cuba can't move around freely is a BLATANT, VICIOUS LIE! ...this poster is clueless.😡

The local governments criticized the arrangement where the Cuban government received most of the payment while providing doctors a small fraction, alongside reports of restricted freedoms for the workers.

See why I ignore some posters...they just bray...

@Besar

excellent post

nuff of our peeps are mental slaves

@Chrissy

Why don't you debate me about this excellent post so I can destroy you...

The Cuban government is selling its workers... I view coercive labour as humanitarian slavery in the 21st century. 😡

@Cricsham

Have you spent time in JA observing Cuban doctors move around? What's been your experience as a tourist in Cuba? Were you told you couldn't go here or there? Are you comparing your experience re Cuban students during your studies in a certain place? I know what I speak of and stand by my statement that A blatant, vicious lie was told. Also, why only now the angst against so-called Cuban Slavery...why only now?

@CricSham

This week hundreds of Cuban doctors stationed in Brazil packed up their bags and went home, less than two weeks after their government in Havana ordered an end to their participation in the country’s More Doctors program on Nov. 14.Cuba said their decision was the result of “offensive and threatening” comments by Bolsonaro. He had called the doctors, who must send most of their salary to their Communist government, “Cuban slaves” and said their presence in Brazil was “feeding the Cuban dictatorship.” Around 1,300 of Brazil’s 8,300 Cuban doctors have already left, according to a spokesman for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the U.N. agency that oversees the program.

In 1963, a year after Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States, it sent its first medical mission abroad to Algeria, with 56 Cubans replacing French doctors who had left the African country after it gained independence from France in 1962.

Sending doctors abroad for humanitarian purposes is also great PR for the country. Cuba’s monthly minimum wage is around $25, rising to around $50 for doctors. In Brazil, even with the Cuban government taking most of their salary, they were still getting about $1000 a month, a life-changing sum for their families.

 I view coercive labour as humanitarian slavery in the 21st century. 😡

Sometimes it is so difficult to respond, not because one can't, but sometimes you feel sad at the level off of arrogant ignorance. A statement that most Cuban doctors in the USA and Canada find that their previous training is not recognized. To place that as an indictment against Cuba is the shallowness that I usually avoid responding to. As far as I am aware, in both Canada and the USA, one of the problems is that they do not recognize anything that is not their own. Medical doctors coming from India, Brazil, Philippines, Sri Lanka, almost everywhere, when they come to USA and Canada, their degrees are not recognized. That is not just a situation with Cuba, but developed minds understand the politics, especially in the case of Cuba. many of us live, lived with and around Cubans for ages, and we know the benefits of their doctors. Do you know that in some countries of the Caribbean, that the Cubans have made such an impact that during Covid 19, residents were prepared to wait for and take, only the Cuban vaccine? Some of us are deeper, we knew the purpose of the radar in Tobago. Some of us are deeper, we know that drop in crime of 42% was because of almost a full year of SOE. We don't have to be here everyday pasting nonsense, because our stories stand on their own. Did i not give a chronology of exactly what will happen, once Trump entered the region with his warships? The only thing I was not accurate on was how they plucked out Maduro.

@Besar

 developed minds understand the politics, Some of us are deeper,

I can shred that smug little philippic you posted without breaking a sweat, but the sheer depth of the BS you’re pushing , I’m willing to just let slide.