NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC -The Bahamas government says documents leaked by a US-based human rights group, purporting to show that Cuban medical professionals in the Bahamas receive a small fraction of their contracted wages, could be part of a broader effort to influence Bahamian public policy and undermine the country’s sovereignty.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said the documents, published last week by the Miami-based group, were “purloined” and lacked explanation or context.
The documents, leaked by the Free Society Project (Cuba Archive), suggest that while the Bahamas agreed in 2023 to pay thousands of dollars per month for each Cuban health worker, the professionals received monthly stipends ranging from US$990 to US$1,200. The rest—between 84 and 92 percent—appears to have gone to Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, SA (CSMC), the Cuban state agency that manages overseas deployments.
Health Minister Dr Michael Darville has questioned the authenticity of parts of the documents, telling reporters that the figures appear skewed and suggest that workers receive only a small fraction of what is paid.
He said he plans to compare the leaked documents with his signed agreements to determine their accuracy.
But Cuba Archive has described the arrangement as “a heavily controlled system” that strips Cuban workers of their rights, and the US media reports say the US State Department has used Cuba Archive’s research in past assessments of the medical program’s labor conditions.
“Our goal is to work with governments to promptly end the coercive and exploitative conditions Cuba subjects its workers to and the conditions of forced labor in many of Cuba’s medical missions. If we see real movement and progress at ending abuses, we will delay visa restrictions, but absent a real effort to change, we will impose them,” said US Embassy Charge D’Affaires, Kimberly Furnish.
Mitchell has cautioned against the influence of such leaks, reiterating Nassa’s earlier denial that “The Bahamas government does not engage in any practice contrary to international labor norms.
“Let’s make that abundantly clear. The purloined documents could not have been meant to do us any good, posted as they are, without explanation, context, or checks on their authenticity. These are signs of the times in which we live, these actions where friends are foe, and foe pretends to be a friend, and it is difficult to tell who is what and what is what,” he added.
The documents, which purportedly bear the signatures of Bahamian and Cuban officials, suggest that while Nassau pays thousands of dollars monthly for each Cuban medical worker, the professionals receive only US$990 to US$1,200 monthly.
However, Mitchell told the Parliament that the Phillip Davis government must resist forming policy based on “subjective interpretations of untested material.
“This is dangerous stuff, though, for Bahamians in an atmosphere where public policy is being made, often taken by subjective interpretations of untested material,” he said, noting that public officials should not have their right to travel “abridged or threatened” based on such leaked documents.
Mitchell later told reporters at a separate event that he did not comment directly on whether he believed the US government had played a role in the leak.
However, he said there is growing concern that unauthenticated materials could be “weaponized” against Bahamian officials. He urged Bahamians not to adopt foreign narratives uncritically, especially in sensitive areas like immigration and labor diplomacy.
Mitchell insisted that The Bahamas relies on its “moral values and our voice” as a small nation without economic or military power.
“We don’t have economic power, we don’t have military power, and we only have moral values and our voice. The elephants fight, and the grass gets trampled.
“Folks who are well-meaning ought to be more careful and circumspect. You cannot argue that you’re doing good when you know you may be inflicting harm,” he said.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have defended the Cuban health program after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was announcing “the expansion of an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labor linked to the Cuban labor export program.
“This expanded policy applies to current or former Cuban government officials and other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or involved in, the Cuban labor export program, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions.”
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba in pursuit of the American dream, said in a statement posted on the US Department of State’s website that the new policy also applies to the immediate family members of those supporting the Cuban program.
Regional leaders said publicly they were willing to have their US visas revoked in support of the Cuban health program in their countries.
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