The first report of the Observatory for Cuban Labor Export Programs (OCLEP) documents a dual humanitarian crisis: the collapse of Cuba’s domestic health system and the trafficking of tens of thousands of Cuban doctors abroad under conditions that meet international definitions of forced labor.

Based on 31 grassroots reports and more than 70 individual testimonies collected between July and September 2025, the findings describe a country where hospitals and clinics stand empty while the government is proudly claiming that over 22,000 Cuban doctors are currently active in more than 50 countries. Independent estimates, however, suggest that the actual figure is considerably higher — potentially reaching 40,000 to 50,000 or more, depending on how missions and personnel are counted. Arriving at a precise number remains difficult due to the lack of transparency from all parties involved — both the Cuban government and the host countries that contract these missions.”exports dozens of thousands of medical professionals to more than 50 countries of Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Health System in Ruins

Inside Cuba, healthcare has collapsed:

• Over 12,000 doctors and 7,000 nurses left the system in 2023 alone, either emigrating or reassigned abroad.

• Public health receives just 1.8–2% of the national budget, while tourism and real estate enjoy 20 times more investment.

• More than 30% of field reports described child victims denied surgery, left untreated for tumors, or dependent on donations for survival.

• Ambulances often take days to arrive, resulting in preventable deaths; consultations are carried out by medical students instead of trained doctors.

• Families must bring their own syringes, antibiotics, anesthesia, and even bed sheets; over half of all reports mention reliance on black-market or donated supplies.

Extrapolating from official statistics and the exodus of medical personnel, experts estimate that millions of Cubans—potentially more than half the population—lack reliable access to healthcare today. Children and the elderly are disproportionately affected, with testimonies of untreated brain tumors, hip deformities, and malnutrition.

Doctors as Export Commodities

Abroad, Cuban medical brigades generate billions of dollars annually for Havana but under coercive conditions:

• Host countries pay $3,000–$10,000 per doctor per month, but Cuban professionals receive only 3–30% of this income.

• Testimonies confirm at least 9 of the 11 ILO forced labor indicators, including abuse of vulnerability, deception, restriction of movement, isolation, retention of documents, withholding of wages, abusive working and living conditions, excessive overtime and intimidation/threats.

• The Palermo Protocol definition of trafficking applies: doctors are recruited under deception, transported abroad, and exploited in conditions they cannot escape.

• In Venezuela, doctors report being forced to treat armed groups at gunpoint; in Mexico, contracts until 2028 remain secret, with state institutions admitting they cannot verify how much money reaches the doctors themselves.

• In one documented case in the Bahamas, 92% of salaries were withheld.

A State-Sponsored Crisis

The OCLEP report concludes that Cuba’s regime operates a “trafficking-for-labor economy”, prioritizing foreign currency inflows over the health of its citizens. International donations, from NGOs or diaspora groups, are frequently diverted to elite hospitals for foreigners while ordinary Cubans are left with nothing.

The human toll is staggering: if 50–60% of Cuba’s 11 million citizens now face inadequate healthcare, between 5–6 million Cubans may be suffering directly from the collapse of the public health system.

Call for Accountability

The report urges urgent international action, including:

• Independent scrutiny of Cuban medical contracts by host governments.

• Conditioning of foreign aid on transparency and non-diversion.

• Use of U.S. Magnitsky-style and EU anti-trafficking sanctions to hold perpetrators accountable.

• Amplification of Cuban victims’ testimonies before the ILO, UN, and Inter-American human rights bodies.

“Cuba exports doctors as commodities, while children die at home waiting for gauze and antibiotics,” one testimony summarized. The Observatory warns that without decisive action, the regime’s model will continue to violate basic rights and fuel a humanitarian emergency in one of the world’s most celebrated yet hollowed-out health systems.

Access the full report here

The Observatory for Cuban Labor Export Programs (OCLEP) has released its second monthly report documenting the Cuban government’s use of medical personnel as a state revenue asset under conditions that meet international definitions of forced labor and human trafficking. Based on ten independently sourced field investigations and 22 testimonies collected in September 2025, the findings reveal a systematic scheme in which Cuban doctors deployed abroad are coerced, surveilled, and deprived of up to 75–95% of their wages while the country’s healthcare system falls into humanitarian collapse.

The report confirms that Cuba’s so-called “medical brigades”—long celebrated as global solidarity missions—function as a state-run labor-export industry generating an estimated USD 4.8–6 billion annually, making it the regime’s largest source of foreign currency.

Key Findings

• Forced labor indicators documented in 100% of cases, including passport confiscation, wage withholding, surveillance, ideological control, family reprisals, and threats of imprisonment for “desertion.”

• All ten reports meet the Palermo Protocol definition of trafficking for labor exploitation, with coercion embedded in law and enforced by state security structures.

• 75–97% of salaries retained by state intermediaries such as Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. and the Central Unit of Medical Cooperation (UCCM).

• Over 4,500 doctors have left Cuba’s public health system in the past three years, within a broader exodus of more than 20,000 medical workers since 2022.

• At home, hospitals continue to close, surgeries are suspended due to lack of anesthetics and equipment, and families must source basic medicines on the black market or through relatives abroad.

A Systemic Dual Crisis

OCLEP’s research exposes a dual reality:

Exported medical labor props up the regime’s finances while domestic public health collapses.

Children and elderly patients lack antibiotics and life-saving treatment. Meanwhile, Cuban professionals abroad face curfews, surveillance, and restricted movement—conditions that international experts say violate ILO Conventions 29 and 105, the UN Palermo Protocol, and basic human-rights protections.

Call for International Accountability

The report urges governments and multilateral institutions—including the ILO, UN, OAS, and PAHO—to require transparency in labor contracts, prohibit wage confiscation, and provide safe channels for Cuban health workers to report coercion without reprisal.

“Behind the image of humanitarian service lies a coercive system that commodifies Cuba’s doctors while leaving its own citizens without care.”

As the Observatory prepares to launch its public evidence database in November 2025, OCLEP calls on democratic governments, labor-rights organizations, and diaspora networks to support whistleblowers, monitor host-country contracts, and defend Cuban medical professionals seeking freedom and dignity.

The Observatory for Cuban Labor Export Programs (OCLEP) released its November 2025 report documenting new evidence of systemic forced labor within Cuba’s global labor-export model. Drawing on 13 newly analyzed field and investigative reports, as well as testimonies from 26 exiled Cuban health professionals consulted in Brazil, the report reveals a mature state-engineered system that exploits medical personnel and other Cuban workers across multiple sectors and regions.

OCLEP’s findings show that Cuba’s overseas medical brigades—often promoted as humanitarian missions—are in fact a central component of a highly structured system of coercive labor, designed to generate foreign revenue while restricting worker autonomy.

The November evidence confirms the widespread use of:

• Passport confiscation and identity-document retention

• Forced wage expropriation, with the State capturing 70–90% of salaries paid by host countries

• Surveillance, movement restrictions, curfews, and ideological monitoring

• Threats of family reprisals, retaliatory transfers, and 8-year bans on returning to Cuba

• Mandatory falsification of medical statistics to preserve foreign contracts

• Sexual coercion and gender-based vulnerabilities reported in mission settings

• Extreme working hours, unsafe conditions, and structural wage theft

New November reports reveal that Cuba’s coercive labor model spans far beyond medical missions. Parallel patterns of deception, surveillance, wage withholding, and retaliatory controls were documented among:

• Construction brigades

• Maritime and shipping workers

• Technicians and industrial workers

• Cultural delegations and artists

• Cubans deployed to foreign programs through state intermediaries

This cross-sector replication demonstrates that forced labor is not incidental but a core state policy, maintained through legal, financial, and ideological control mechanisms.

Though these cases fall outside CFLCMM’s direct field-collection scope, independent analysis shows coercive contractual terms similar to those documented in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Their presence signals serious due-diligence gaps in host countries and increasing internationalization of Cuba’s forced-labor apparatus.

Why OCLEP’s Work Matters

With more than 32,000 Cuban health professionals deployed across 67 countries, forced-labor risks continue to grow. As OCLEP prepares to launch its full digital evidence platform in early 2026, today’s report demonstrates the necessity of independent monitoring, survivor-centered documentation, and transparent public reporting.

The November 2025 evidence shows one unmistakable pattern:
Cuba’s labor-export industry is a state-run trafficking system—adaptable, profitable, and expanding—requiring coordinated international response and stronger protection for its victims.

About OCLEP

The Observatory for Cuban Labor Export Programs is an independent data-collection and analysis initiative supported by the CFLCMM Program to document forced-labor practices in Cuban international service missions and provide verified evidence to policymakers, journalists, and human-rights institutions.

Access the full report here